Britt Lapthorne [BODY FOUND] (Australian), 21, Dubrovnik Croatia, 9/17/08

[Audie]

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6280943,00.jpg

Hostel owner's son detained over Britt Lapthorne's disappearance

October 02, 2008 07:22pm


~Hostel owner's son detained, held in police cell
~Not yet named as suspect - report
~Denies involvement in Britt Lapthorne's disappearance

POLICE have arrested the son of a hostel owner in Croatia over the disappearance of Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne, the Nine network reported.

Ivica Perkovic, whose father owns the backpacker's hostel where Britt, 21, was staying, has denied any involvement but was being held in cells at police headquarters in Dubrovnik.

Investigators aren't yet naming him as a suspect, Nine reported.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said he could not confirm whether an arrest had been made.

"I can't confirm that as it is a matter for Croatian authorities," the spokesman said.

An earlier statement from DFAT said consular staff were in close contact with the Australian Federal Police, with whom Ms Lapthorne had been registered by her family as a missing person.

Denies involvement

Mr Perkovic earlier said he saw Britt on the night she was last seen.

"I was not the last person she saw. The only time I saw her was just for a few minutes. This was around the table at around 10pm that night," he said.

Police asked him about a phone call Britt made to his mobile phone, he said.

"There was one call and police interviewed me. There was one call found on her mobile phone, which is the official phone of the backpackers' hostel, so everyone ... has that phone."

Father joins search

Britt's father, Dale Lapthorne, began the journey to Croatia from Melbourne today to join the search.

"Practically I am not going to do a lot but I am not coming back until I've got my daughter," he said at Melbourne Airport.

A backpacker who shared a room with Britt at a Dubrovnik hostel said the Melbourne woman could have accepted a lift from the nightclub from a local.

"The only way for her to get back would have been to walk alone through dark unfamiliar streets or to catch a taxi or perhaps even to take a lift with a local," Lydia Hambrook told ABC Radio from Stockholm.

"Given how talkative she was and how trusting she seemed to be, I wouldn't rule that out as something she might have done."

Ms Hambrook said it took two days before the hostel owners were alerted to her disappearance.

Senior detectives

It's been reported that more than 100 officers have been assigned to the case, including one of Croatia's most senior homicide detectives.

Investigators are focusing on what went on at Latino Club Fuego, where Britt was last seen on September 17.

Security cameras were reportedly not working the night she disappeared, despite having worked properly until the night before.

An Australian Senate delegation has met with Croatian leaders, and been told everything possible was being done to find Britt, although Mr Lapthorne said he was disappointed with the Australian Government's response.

"The Government is deafening in their silence, rest assured they will hear me, they will hear me from 15,000km away," he said.

"Our prime focus is our daughter and nothing else matters," he said.

Britt's boyfriend Simon Imberger is accompanying Mr Lapthorne to Croatia.

"If anyone knows anything at all, doesn't matter how small the detail is, it may help, so if you think you know anything step forward, we want to hear it," he said.

Frustration

The family has repeatedly expressed frustration at the lack of assistance from consular officials to help in the search for Britt.

"Every time I've been in contact with (the) foreign affairs department you just get the same every time, 'blah, blah, blah' - that's not what I want to hear," Britt's mother Elka Lapthorne said.

Britt's brother Darren arrived in Dubrovnik last weekend, while an Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer is in the city assisting with the investigation.

The Lapthorne family said they were willing to sell their Melbourne home to fund a $177,935 reward for information leading to their daughter's safe return.

A Facebook page dedicated to finding Britt now has 12,601 members.

Britt's friend Tara Reynolds, who was travelling with her, has posted a message saying:

"Due to the nature of the sensitive situation at the moment I have temporarily made this group page private. Thank you to all who have posted on this site, you have all been wonderful in helping find Britt."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24437167-421,00.html

[Grande]

Croatian police shift focus to Britt's backpacker mates
Paola Totaro, Dubrovnik
October 2, 2008 - 8:35PM

The son of owners of a Dubrovnik hostel where missing Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne last stayed remains in police custody but is not a suspect in her disappearance, Croatian police insist.

Instead, investigators are focusing on a group of travellers - including three Australians - who were with Ms Lapthorne at a nightclub on the night she vanished, and who have since left Dubrovnik. One of them, Lydia Hambrook, of Adelaide, spoke from Stockholm today of the last time she saw Ms Lapthorne.

- Son 'not a suspect'
- Hunt for Australian travellers
- Father flies out

The travellers investigators want to speak to are Australians David Joshua Barbalet, 21, of Perth, Jason Barry Levy, 22, of Adelaide and Lydia Evelyn Hambrook, 28, of Adelaide, Portuguese Marina Moreira and Guilhermo Augusto, American Viktor Dabowiecki and Briton Garet James Hopkins.

All were together in the hostel and spent the eveniings of September 16 and 17 together.

Ivica Perkovic, whose father owns the backpacker's hostel where Britt, 21, was staying, has denied any involvement but is being held in cells at police headquarters in Dubrovnik.

He had agreed to a formal interview with police who insist he is not a suspect, despite a report on Australian TV tonight that he had been arrested.

Dubrovnik's deputy police chief, Ivan Kukrika, said investigators had asked Interpol to launch an international search for the six friends, whom he described as "crucial" to the investigation.

He repeated several times that it was "strange, very curious'' that Britt had arrived in Dubrovnik with the same group of friends, that they had spent
two evenings together but that they all left without knowing her whereabouts.

Ms Lapthorne went missing after a night at Dubrovnik's Club Fuego on September 17, raising fears she had been abducted.

Her father Dale Lapthorne left Melbourne today to join his son Darren in Dubrovnik in the hope of finding Ms Lapthorne.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/croatian-police-shift-focus-to-britts-backpacker-mates-20081002-4sr1.html

[Audie]

Latino Club Fuego first opened its doors in Jun 2001. In a short period of time it become the most popular club in Dubrovnik. Interesting, carefully designed interior, excellent music, reasonable prices, and pleasant staff make a Latino Club Fuego's visitors become its permanent satisfied guests.

Latino Club Fuego is located at Street Brsalje 11, near Pile Gate, the west entrance to the Old Town. Few meters away from the Latino Club Fuego there is the parking lot, while the bus station is just in front of the club.

Latino Club Fuego works every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:00 p.m. until 04:00 a.m. offering its guest different program each night. Special parties in Latino Club Fuego are organized for New Year's, St. Vlaho Day, Carnival, Summer Festival Opening Night, Halloween, and other special occasions.

http://www.dubrovnik-online.com/english/nightclubs_disco.php

I'm confused (as usual). She was last seen Sep 17 at this club. Sep 17 was a Wednesday, but this ad says they "work" every Thu, Fri and Sat.

From the first post:
Investigators are focusing on what went on at Latino Club Fuego, where Britt was last seen on September 17.

[Audie]

This is sounding more and more like the Natalie Holloway case. Sheesh.

She's very attractive. I wonder why her BF didn't go with her.

[Grande]

Hostel owners' son interrogated over missing Britt
Paola Totaro in Dubrovnik
October 2, 2008

http://i38.tinypic.com/2dgkzz7.jpg
The text message sent by Ivica Perkovic to his mother.
Photo: Zvonimir Pandz?a

The owners of the Dubrovnik hostel in Croatia from which Melbourne girl Britt Lapthorne disappeared two weeks ago have implored Australians to understand that they feel the pain of her disappearance as if she were their own daughter.

Their plea came as Ms Lapthorne's parents prepared to post a €100,000 reward for her disappearance. Her father, Dale, was also upset that the Australian Federal Police told them to "remember [Australia's] relationship with Croatia" when speaking about his daughter.

Ms Lapthorne, 21, has been missing since September 18, when she was last seen at a Croatian nightclub.

Ensconced in a tiny anteroom of their three-bedroom private hostel on a hill in a newer part of the ancient seaside citadel, the mother nervously fingered her rosary beads and confirmed that she was praying for her son, Ivica Perkovic, who was being interrogated by local police as she spoke to the Herald.

Fighting back tears, she said she invited Ms Lapthorne's family to visit their home to see how the family looked after its young guests and to feel and understand their pain at the disappearance.

"I pray for the girl as if she is our own daughter. I pray to God that they find her," she said.

Son knew nothing of disappearance: hostel owner

Mrs Perkovic insisted her son not only knew nothing about Ms Lapthorne's disappearance but his only interaction with her and her friends that night was a quick chat when he came home from work. He said hello to the group who were watching DVDs in the communal area and then went to bed, she said.

She said her son later complained the guests were making too much noise but he was too shy to complain himself. She then asked them to quieten down.

"My son only said hello that night and then he went to bed to sleep as he had worked and was tired.

"He asked me to ask the girls to turn the noise down. They were watching DVDs and talking very loudly."

Mrs Perkovic said her son was never worried or anxious about Ms Lapthorne's disappearance, reassuring her they were just teenagers. She said he even sent her a text message on her mobile phone - which she showed the Herald - telling her it was OK.

"We will see in the morning, they are just young, crazy kids."

Police questions about call from Britt's phone

Her husband, also clearly distressed and anxious, said the police asked him about a mobile phone call made from Ms Lapthorne's phone to her son at 2.57am on the day of her alleged disappearance.

He was adamant his son handled all the internet bookings for the hostel and it was his mobile number that was given to guests for emergencies or cancellations.

"Of course she may have called but his telephone was turned down and he did not hear it," he said.

Initially shy and reluctant to speak, Mrs Perkovic appeared clearly grief stricken at the notion that her son, one of six children aged between 34 and 21, could be considered as a suspect.

"I pray for the girl and that they find Britt. I pray for her family that they find peace and for our family that we find peace and things go back to normal," she said.

It is understood the son was questioned for a number of hours and has now been released.

€100,000 reward

Mr Lapthorne said he was preparing to post a €100,000 reward for any information relating to his daughter's disappearance.

Speaking from his car in Melbourne, Mr Lapthorne said that his son, Darren believes the investigation has "ramped up" in Dubrovnik and the Australian embassy has now provided diplomatic services in the effort to find and interview fellow backpackers.

"The family is very reclusive and are finding it extremely difficult to stay public, but we know we need to ensure government interest and keep the momentum going," he said.

"I am preparing to post a reward but now need DFAT [Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] advice to know how to do that logistically."

Mr Lapthorne later told Channel Nine that he wasn't getting any support from the "bureaucratic" Australian embassy.

"I'm putting up the reward ... I need Mr Rudd and his people to help me with the [logistics].

"I need the embassy to help ... and I'm not getting any support from this bureaucratic organisation."

Family 'given rules' by AFP

Visibly angry and emotional, Mr Lapthorne told how the Federal Police had asked the couple to be mindful of Australia's relationship with Croatia when speaking about their daughter's situation.

"We had a call from the Australian Federal Police ... quite a distressing call giving us a list of rules and undertakings.

He said the family had been told to "go soft on the media" and to "remember their relationship with Croatia".

"This is not their daughter ... I'm really disappointed by Australian police," Mr Lapthorne said.

Mr Lapthorne said on the phone that the family had been hoping for a resolution over the next 24 hours but police information from Dubrovnik had "blacked out" after information on the investigation had leaked on the social networking site Facebook.

Elke Lapthorne said Darren was in Dubrovnik trying to find out more about the progress of the investigation.

"He's been hanging around the police station ... but he's not being told a lot," she said.

Britt 'quite intoxicated' after nightclub

Ms Lapthorne's parents said she had been quite drunk at a Croatian nightclub on the night of her disappearance.

"We had some more information added last night and that was that Britt was quite intoxicated. She apparently dropped a glass and the club removed her from the premises," Mr Lapthorne said on Channel Nine.

"We also heard that she worked her way back into the club and rejoined her friends."

Mr Lapthorne said he and his wife were very disappointed that their daughter had got into the "booze culture" of backpacking.

The parents said they were disappointed the investigation appeared to have commenced only seven days after their daughter went missing, on September 17.

Mr Lapthorne is preparing to fly to Milan this afternoon and is still not sure how he will reach Dubrovnik from Italy.

The private hostel, in a high street in the new park of Dubrovnik, has three guest rooms which can each hold up to four backpackers.

The Perkovic family spoke proudly of their son's interest in the hostel and backpacker business. They said he travelled to Belgrade after Ms Lapthorne's disappearance in the past few weeks for work-related reasons.

The hostel's communal facilities, including free DVDs and wi-fi internet access, were innovations provided for guests thanks to their son's work, they said.

The stunning seaside town of Dubrovnik is clearly suffering under the unwelcome gaze of the Australian media. Late yesterday, reports of a bad smell near Scheherazade Villa, the house made famous by young lovers Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor led to the arrival of a contingent of police, who searched the inlets below.

The Dubrovnik chief of police, Ivan Kresic, and his deputy arrived too but, as the Herald watched, the police chief left and said they had found a dead cat.

- with Arjun Ramachandran

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/phone-call-may-hold-clue-to-missing-britt/2008/10/02/1222651205434.html

[Grande]

http://i33.tinypic.com/25s1ok0.jpg

http://www.theage.com.au/national/police-take-owners-son-to-dubrovnik-hostel-20081002-4sva.html

[Grande]

Suspect in Missing Britt Case Released
He was called in for an interview as a citizen and that’s that. What he told the police is confidential, the police spokesman said.
Author Maja Jurišić
Translation Lajla Mlinarić

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA – Although he was arrested for the third time and then released from the police station, the police do not wish to disclose details of the interview they had with Ivica Perkovic, the son of the owner of the hostel in which Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne who went missing in Dubrovnik was staying.

Dubrovnik-Neretva County police spokesman, usually very stingy in giving information, said Perkovic had been called in for an interview as a citizen.

- He was called in for an interview as a citizen and that’s that. What he told the police is confidential, since the investigation is ongoing. I can tell you that at this moment a helicopter is flying over Srdj and the search is continuing – said the spokesman, adding that a helicopter had already been used several times in the search for Britt and that the investigation has been expanded from the hotel area and the night club “Fuego” where the girl was last seen, to “the wider Dubrovnik area”.

The hostel was searched on Thursday from top to bottom. Unofficial sources tell us no traces were found there that could help police solve the case of the missing backpacker.

Why was Perkovic called in to the police station for an interview as many as three times and are the police suspecting that he knew more than he said, the spokesman would not comment. Despite many inconsistencies regarding Ivica Perkovic, the police spokesman said that in these two weeks for how long the investigation has been ongoing, Perkovic has not been declared a suspect.

He denies having any contact with the missing Australian in the night of her disappearance

Although Perkovic claimed that he had no knowledge of where Britt was during the night when she went missing, the investigation revealed that that night Britt had called Perkovic’s mobile phone. But he claims it is a work mobile phone whose number he gives to all of the guests of the hostel and that he had not answered the call because he did not hear the phone ringing.

The same sources told us that Perkovic is the last person to have seen Britt, which he denies. Another inconsistency is that the day after the girl disappeared Perkovic travelled to Belgrade, allegedly for business.

In Belgrade he met up with Britt’s friend to whom, commenting on the girl’s disappearance, he said the Australian had “gone missing on purpose”.

Britt’s father Dale is scheduled to arrive in Dubrovnik today, as is her boyfriend. But police do not know when they are supposed to be arriving.

- If they have arrived, they have not contacted me – the police spokesman said.

We could not get a confirmation from the “Berkley” hotel where Britt’s brother is staying that Dale Lapthorne has arrived.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=188636

[Breezy]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=417898802

[Grande]

Missing Britt Lapthorne’s Body Found?
Dubrovnik police found a body suspected to be that of the missing Australian backpacker, Britt Lapthorne.
TranslationLajla MlinarićAuthor

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA - Dubrovnik police found a body in an inlet behind city walls, between Danac and the Libertas Hotel. the body was first noticed by a fisherman.

Although it has not been confirmed if the body is that of a male or female, there is suspicion that it is the Australian backpacker, Britt Lapthorne, who went missing in the Croatian coastal town on September 18.

Dubrovnik-Neretva County deputy commissioner Ivan Kukrika confirmed for us that a body was found.

- The bodily remains are in very bad a condition and identification is impossible for the time being – Kukrika told us, adding that a local fisherman first saw the body. So far, none of the details are familiar and the investigation is still underway.

The body has been taken to the pathology ward of the Dubrovnik hospital. None of the Lapthorne family were at the scene where the body was found.

The body was found an hour after the father of the missing girl, Dale Lapthorne, said that special investigators from Zagreb are still searching for Britt. The father stressed he was hoping to find her alive.

Dubrovnik police questioned the son of the owner of the hostel in which Britt was staying because she apparently called him the night before she went missing. An anonymous man called the hotel in which Britt's parents are staying to say that the hostel owner had tried to send Britt's passport to Australia by post the day after she went missing.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=189434

[Grande]

Britt's dad fears wall of silence
Paola Totaro Herald Correspondent in Dubrovnik
October 7, 2008

THE family of missing traveller Britt Lapthorne fears the investigation into her disappearance is being hampered by a pall of "community silence" designed to protect the ancient town's reputation as a tourist destination.

Late yesterday, hours before the family was to meet the specialist investigative detective from Zagreb assigned to the case, Ms Lapthorne's father, Dale, expressed anxiety that national pride - and small-town values - were hampering efforts to tease out information from residents about what might have happened to his daughter on September 18.

Mr Lapthorne said an anonymous tip-off to his hotel in Dubrovnik, made by a caller in Croatian, alleged the owner of the hostel from which Ms Lapthorne disappeared had tried to post her Australian passport in the days after her disappearance.

He said the information was not a case-breaker but provided details of "things that someone has known for a long time". The Herald now understands Mr Lapthorne is not sure if it related to his daughter's passport or another left by a backpacker.

Mr Lapthorne said he had a message for anyone holding his daughter captive: if they wanted money she must be returned safely. "They may have ulterior motives; they may see some monetary value in it," he said. "I'm interested in getting my daughter and if they're looking for a reward, it will only be after the safe delivery of my daughter - the return of my daughter."

Mr Lapthorne said he was becoming increasingly frustrated with Australian authorities and Interpol for leaving the family in a vacuum of information.

He said local people had told him they believed if there was a body to be found, this would have happened by now but that people needed to talk yet were afraid.

"There is a fear that everyone knows everyone and close down to protect the community … my feeling is that if it's a foreigner involved, it's one thing … but if it's a Croatian national then that's another and they don't want to be put in a situation."

Mr Lapthorne said he knew he was being a "squeaky wheel" in order to get some answers from the Department of Foreign Affairs but said Australians would understand his situation.

"Prime Minister [Kevin] Rudd says every stone is being turned but I want to know what that actually means. I don't want to bash the Croatian authorities but I am targeting the Australian authorities."

He has expressed frustration at the invisibility of the Australian Federal Police officer assigned to liaise and after being in the country for five days, said Interpol has provided no contact points nor information.

"This AFP officer, he is a phantom," he said. "We've been told by Croatian police that he's around. In five days he has not attempted to contact us …"

The AFP yesterday disputed Mr Lapthorne's claims.

A spokeswoman for the AFP said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was providing consular assistance to the family via the AFP's liaison officer's daily meetings with Croatian police.

Australian backpackers who have stayed at the the same hostel in Dubrovnik as Ms Lapthorne have painted a picture of a welcoming, friendly place.

A Sydney man, who does not wish to be named, told the Herald when he stayed at the Dubrovnik Backpackers Club in June last year, the owners' son, Ivica Perkovic, was "chummy" and went out of his way to befriend guests, even offering to travel to Bosnia with a female guest.

"I actually thought it was a really friendly sort of hostel and it didn't strike me as a place of debauchery," he said of the multi-level building.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/britts-dad-fears-wall-of-silence/2008/10/06/1223145262077.html

[Grande]

Missing backpacker's boyfriend rejects promiscuous claims
By Europe correspondent Emma Alberici
Updated 6 hours 13 minutes ago


Britt Lapthorne disappeared in the Croatian town of Dubrovnik in the early hours of September 18. (ABC TV)

The boyfriend of missing Melbourne student Britt Lapthorne has rejected Croatian newspaper reports she was promiscuous and a known drunk before she disappeared in Dubrovnik.

Ms Lapthorne was last seen at a nightclub in the seaside village in the early hours of September 18.

Simon Imberger says the accusations, made by the son of the owner of the hostel where Miss Lapthorne was staying, did not really hurt.

"What hurts is that no-one is doing anything to solve this case .. the Australian Government, the Croatian Government ... they don't care, that's what hurts," he said.

He says his relationship with Ms Lapthorne was extremely serious and the couple were talking about marriage.

"We spent every day together before she left," he said.

"Our relationship was precious."

Meanwhile, Ms Lapthorne's father, Dale Lapthorne, says a call to his hotel suggests attempts were made to post Britt's passport the morning she disappeared.

"We received an anonymous phone call with information received by our Croatian translator," Mr Lapthorne said.

"He identified a woman as the owner of the hostel where Britt was staying.

"He said she was trying to post an Australian passport to Australia on the 18th of September the day Britt disappeared."

It is now 18 days since Ms Lapthorne went missing and police still have no clues about where she might be.

A senior detective from Zagreb is due to fly into Dubrovnik tonight to assist with the investigation, which police insist is still focused on finding Ms Lapthorne alive.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/06/2383428.htm

[Nut44x4]

Police retrieve body at Dubrovnik beach
Posted 3 hours 46 minutes ago
Updated 2 hours 50 minutes ago
Police in Croatia say a body has been found on a beach in central Dubrovnik, the city where missing Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne was last seen.

The 21-year-old Australian went missing two weeks ago after going out to a Dubrovnik nightclub with friends.

The discovery was made by a local sailor of a cargo ship.

Europe correspondent Emma Alberici told ABC1's Lateline program that locals witnessed five Water Police boats off the coast where the body was found, and one boat retrieved the body and took it aboard.

She said police told local film crew in Croatian that the body was "unrecognisable", and that Ms Lapthorne's father Dale, who is in Croatia to search for his daughter, was "devastated" when he heard a body had been found.

Ms Lapthorne was last seen at a nightclub in the seaside village in the early hours of September 18.

Earlier her boyfriend, Simon Imberger, accused both countries' governments of not caring about her disappearance.

"What hurts is that no-one is doing anything to solve this case .. the Australian Government, the Croatian Government ... they don't care, that's what hurts," he said.

He also rejected Croatian newspaper reports that Ms Lapthorne was promiscuous and a known drunk before she disappeared in Dubrovnik.

He says his relationship with Ms Lapthorne was extremely serious and the couple were talking about marriage.

"We spent every day together before she left," he said.

"Our relationship was precious."

Mr Lapthorne earlier said a call to his hotel suggests attempts were made to post Britt's passport the morning she disappeared.

"We received an anonymous phone call with information received by our Croatian translator," he said.

"He identified a woman as the owner of the hostel where Britt was staying.

"He said she was trying to post an Australian passport to Australia on the 18th of September - the day Britt disappeared."

It is now 18 days since Ms Lapthorne went missing.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/06/2383568.htm

[Nut44x4]

Backpacker tells of last moments with missing Australian
ABC - October 6, 2008, 11:01 am

Mariana Moreira was probably the last person to see Australian Backpacker Britt Lapthorne before she disappeared in the Croatian town of Dubrovnik in the early hours of September 18.

The 22-year-old Portuguese woman was among seven friends who went to a nightclub with the the 21-year-old Melbourne woman after meeting her at the hostel where they were both staying.

But despite assurances from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd over the weekend that the Australian Government would leave no stone unturned in the investigation into Ms Lapthorne's disappearance, when ABC correspondent Emma Alberici spoke to this crucial witness she had still not been contacted by police.

Ms Moreira says Ms Lapthorne came to her in the middle of the night, looking a little bit drunk.

"In the beginning she was very OK, she was all right, but in the middle of the night she looked a little drunk and came to me and asked me 'where are the Croatians?' and I said 'I don't know, who are the Croatians?'," said Ms Moreira.

She said she did not know who Ms Lapthorne was talking about.

"And she left maybe looking for them," she said.

Ms Moreira says it looked like the Australian had been drinking, but was having a good time and talking to a group of men.

"She looked a little bit drunk and she left like shaking and walking. When I saw her talking with the boys she looked smiling and talking," she said.

"She was very nice. She was [a] nice person. She is a nice person and she speak for me. She was having fun.

"The club was a little bit empty and we thought 'let's go, let's go and I said it is better to call the others' so I went.

"When we were passing through to the other, to the stairs, to the other area where are the stairs, I looked at the bar and I saw Britt talking with some boys.

"She is blonde and it is easy to see her. Very strong blonde hair and I saw her with the, look into her eyes. I know that they are tall because ... she was looking up.

"I just saw her and I thought, 'OK I will go upstairs, call the others and then I call her', and when we arrived at the main dance floor, I looked and I didn't see Britt and we stayed there a little bit.

"We danced a little bit and then we left and Britt, during that time, I didn't see her at all. No more. I didn't see her," she added.

Ms Moreira says the club that night was almost empty and almost everyone there was up at the bar.

She is concerned and wants police to contact her.

"From me it is a very strange situation. I am very worried about what could happen with Britt. We left the Dubrovnik in the 19th the morning. We come to Portugal. We received no calls," she said.

"We are waiting for that. We want to share information. I don't know if it helps, my information but I really want to help."

" ... Do you know if the father's are trying to contact with us? We want to tell our information to the police, you know. We want to help with the investigations."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/australian-news/5060620

[Breezy]

I can't belive the police still have not contacted this woman.
I wonder why she has not contacted them??

[Grande]

Body Found Near Dubrovnik is Not Britt Lapthorne
The body is in poorer state that a body that has been in the sea since September 18, report the Dubrovnik-Neretva County police.
Translation Joseph Stedul

The body found in the sea near Dubrovnik probably floated in from Montenegrin or Albanian waters, which means that it is not of the missing Australian Britt Lapthorne, reported the police headquarters in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County.

“Knowing the phases of decay for a body at sea, the body was in a worse state that it would have been if it were in the sea since September 18, when the Australian went missing” said the deputy head of the Dubvrovnik-Neretva County police, Ivan Kukrika. He added that he considers that the body floated in from Montenegrin or Albanian seas.

Tomorrow there will be a DNA analysis of the body, which will confirm the identity.

Also, Kukrika stressed that the search for the missing Britt will continue tomorrow, with the help of a helicopter.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=189531

[Grande]

Body found in sea off Dubrovnik could be Britt Lapthorne
David Murray in Dubrovnik
October 07, 2008 11:15am

THE father of Britt Lapthorne says it would be an "extraordinary" coincidence if the body discovered at Dubrovnik is not his daughter.

Dale Lapthorne wants police to use dental records to identify whether the body recovered from the sea is his daughter.

"A very quick and easy ID for Britt is her teeth,'' Mr Lapthorne said.

"Her teeth are perfect. She's had them straightened; she's never had a filling. That is reasonably unusual for people, so that's a very quick ID for Britt.''

Mr Lapthorne is furious with Croatian authorities after hearing about the body's discovery through the media rather than police.

He has also dismissed the usefulness of a Australian Federal Police officer sent to Croatia to assist with the investigation, describing him as a "political tool".

Police say the badly decomposed remains are unlikely to be those of the 21-year-old, who has been missing since September 18.

But a recent case shows why Mr Lapthorne should be cautious about police assertions that the body is not his daughter.

Three years ago, the body of murdered British tourist Peter Rushton was found in the sea five weeks after he had gone missing in Porec, in north-west Croatia.

A forensic pathologist advised that the remains had been in the water for up to a year, prompting police to initially say that the body almost absolutely was not Mr Rushton.

In Dubrovnik, Mr Lapthorne described feeling "totally numb'' after the most traumatic day of his life.

"It is just extraordinary. It's your worst nightmare in many ways,'' he said.

"With this body we almost had some closure. I could at least say I am going home with Britt.''

Asked if he a gut-feeling about what an autopsy and identification tests would reveal, he said: "I just don't.''

Dubrovnik deputy district commander Ivan Kukrika said he did not believe that it was Britt's remains that had been discovered.

An autopsy will be conducted at 10am local time (7pm Melbourne time) and police will use DNA tests to provide confirmation, he said.

"We can almost for sure tell that the body is not Britt's body,'' Mr Kukrika said at a press conference.

The remains were more likely to belong to an illegal immigrant from Albania or Montenegro that had been dumped over the side of a boat some time ago, he said.

Police failed to advise Britt's family when the body was found or that the remains were likely to be unrelated to the 21-year old.

In the previous similar case, Mr Rushton had been out alone celebrating his 30th birthday when he met three new Croatian friends.

A fight broke out and he was given a "savage beating'', stripped naked and wrapped in a sack stuffed with fishing weights.

Ms Lapthorne's mother Elke says she is "emotionally and physically exhausted'' as her ordeal continues.

"I am emotionally and physically exhausted after a very distressing night with the news out of Dubrovnik,'' Mrs Lapthorne said in a statement.

"My family and I simply need to sleep and regroup for what we know will be a difficult next 24 hours.

"Thank you again for all your support and the recognition that Britt is a young Australian person in trouble. Without your help, our search would be so much more difficult.

"We have not given up hope and will not cease our search for out beloved daughter.''

The body was in the shallows close to a path between the Club Fuego nightclub where Ms Lapthorne was last seen and the Dubrovnik Backpackers Club where she had been staying.

A local fisherman alerted police just after 11am local time (8pm yesterday Melbourne time) when he saw the body floating in the Bay of Boninovo.

The body was taken to the morgue, where a spokesman said it was so badly decomposed that it was "unrecognisable" as male or female.

In a media conference at the Dubrovnik morgue, police said they couldn't estimate how long body been there, but said "for a very long time".

“For sure we can almost tell that it's not Britt because it's in a high state of decomposition,'' police spokesman Ivan Kukrika told a press conference.

“We can't even tell if it's male or female.

“What we know from our knowledge of decomposition of a body after it has been in the sea, we can tell it's not her, but we cannot tell anything for sure before the autopsy gives a result.''

"We do not know who the person is. The remains are in a bad shape."

But police also could not assure the family the body was not that of Ms Lapthorne.

The discovery came just an hour after Ms Lapthorne's father Dale emerged from a meeting with police expressing hope that his daughter would be found alive.

Mr Lapthorne flew into Dubrovnik from Melbourne on Friday with Ms Lapthorne's boyfriend, Simon Imberger.

They joined Ms Lapthorne's older brother Darren to search for her.

After meeting the senior detective investigating his daughter's disappearance, Mr Lapthorne, who has vowed not to return to Australia without her, said he had a lot of confidence in the specialist officer.

In tears last night after the body was found, initially father Dale Lapthorne said there was little chance of finding Britt alive.

Asked if he thought there was any hope the body wasn't his daughter, the anguished dad was not optimistic.

"Let's hope that's the case. But it's highly unlikely (that it isn't Britt)."

He had vowed not to return home without Britt, who had been travelling through Europe for four months.

Britt's brother Darren and boyfriend Simon Imberger were also in Croatia, doing what they could to find her.

Search parties had previously scoured local swimming spots over the past 18 days without luck.

Concerns remain about the failure to contact key international witnesses, with Croatian police blaming Interpol and bureaucratic red tape.

The owner of the hostel where Ms Lapthorne had been staying yesterday denied attempting to post the missing backpacker's passport on the day she vanished.

In another development, the Lapthorne family yesterday abruptly shut down the Facebook site dedicated to finding the 21-year-old for an undisclosed reason.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24458871-2862,00.html

[Grande]

Croatian police fail to advise Lapthorne family on body find
DAVID MURRAY, DUBROVNIK
October 08, 2008 12:00am

POLICE failed to advise missing backpacker Britt Lapthorne's family when a body was discovered in Dubrovnik, or to pass on their theory that the find was unrelated to the 21-year old Australian.

It was left to reporters to tell Mr Lapthorne about the awful events unfolding and to keep him up to date.

At best the police inaction was an illogical attempt to protect the Lapthorne family, at worst an example of bureaucracy overtaking common decency.

Mr Lapthorne confirmed the obvious last night when he said: "Had we heard through the grapevine, we would have assumed naturally the same thing, that it was Britt."

Asked what he thought about the police decision to keep him in the dark as local and international news crews arrived to film the body's recovery, he said: "Pretty disappointed. They could have called us and told us. I received a call from one of you (the media).

"And I was told to contact the police. We contacted the police and they said there's nothing to report.

"And yet a minute later I got a call from another one of you telling me it's possibly Britt."

Mr Lapthorne had earlier emerged from Dubrovnik's police headquarters looking upbeat for the first time since arriving in town.

He had just met a key detective on the case, a talented homicide squad officer his family knows only as Antonio, and he finally felt some reassurance that police had not given up or "reached a dead end".

But shortly after he left, there was a flurry of activity at the station. A group of officers emerged and jumped into a van. A local journalist spoke one recognisable word, "forensics", and started making frantic calls on his mobile phone.

A photographer was already speeding towards a hilltop car park on his motorbike and insisted: "You need to meet me there."

There had been numerous false alarms over the previous week, but deputy police commander Ivan Kukrika confirmed this was different. "We have found a body," he said.

He did not know whether the body was that of the missing Australian and warned the remains were badly decomposed.

Reporters and camera crews perched at a vantage point to the west of Dubrovnik's Old Town, looking at a police boat a few hundred metres off the coast. Officers on board were getting ready to retrieve a body that had been spotted by local resident Pero Djuras while he was out on his boat.

Commander Kukrika defended the failure to contact the Lapthornes.

"The local rules are that we contact the family when we are sure," he explained.

The actions, or inactions, of police should send a firm message to the Australian Government about the way the search for Britt is being handled in Croatia.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24463731-5006301,00.html

[Grande]

Britt's family wait for autopsy to identify body
Paola Totaro in Dubrovnik and Selma Milovanovic
October 8, 2008

THE family of missing traveller Britt Lapthorne face an agonising wait for the results of an autopsy on a body found floating near a popular fishing and swimming spot in front of two of Dubrovnik's luxury hotels.

The body, which is so badly decomposed the gender cannot be established, was recovered on Monday afternoon and Britt's father, Dale, has provided DNA sampling in an effort to rule out that it is his daughter, 21.

The find, reported to police by a fisherman, was passed on to local media. But Mr Lapthorne and his son, Darren, were not told formally nor was their anxiety relieved by Croatian police when they announced just a few hours later that the body was "almost certainly not" Britt.

Police said the body was too badly decomposed to have only been in the water for 2½ weeks and that forensic tests, including DNA samples, would need to be completed before any conclusions could be drawn. Testing was due to begin last night, Australian time.

Three years ago a British tourist, Peter Rushton, disappeared from a nightclub in the northern town of Porec and was found in the sea.

Initial forensic reports had suggested the body had been in the water for more than eight months and police insisted it could not be Rushton. Tests later showed that it was him and that he had been tied up, murdered and his clothes filled with stones.

Just how long the Croatian police and media will remain interested in the case is questionable, as the investigation of the young traveller's disappearance on September 18 has unfolded almost in tandem with the explosion of a political scandal in Zagreb, which has enveloped the nation's Police Minister.

Mr Lapthorne described as "extraordinary" the coincidence that a body was found within the timeframe of Britt's disappearance.

But police said it was not rare for bodies of refugees attempting to enter Europe from Albania to be washed up on the Croatian coast.

Mr Lapthorne said: "It is your worst nightmare in many ways, with this body we almost had some closure you know, some closure. I [could] at least say 'I'm going home with Britt'."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/britts-family-wait-for-autopsy/2008/10/07/1223145356060.html

[Grande]

Unbelievable turn of events in this case. Her poor family...

[Amusedtdth]

Unbelievable turn of events in this case. Her poor family...

ITA Grande, as if this family isn't suffering enough. My heart goes out to them!:1222423:

[Nut44x4]

I would suggest they keep a close eye on LE.
I can almost smell another 'Aruba' in this one.

[Grande]

I would suggest they keep a close eye on LE.
I can almost smell another 'Aruba' in this one.

Same thought crossed my mind.

Why someone from LE would go on the record and make the following statement is beyond me;

<Snipped>

“Knowing the phases of decay for a body at sea, the body was in a worse state that it would have been if it were in the sea since September 18, when the Australian went missing” said the deputy head of the Dubvrovnik-Neretva County police, Ivan Kukrika. He added that he considers that the body floated in from Montenegrin or Albanian seas.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=189531

[Audie]

http://www.javno.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2008/m10/y183907109687700.jpg

Britt Lapthorne`s Mobile Found In Hostel

Published: October 04, 2008 12:36h

If information that the mobile phone was actually found in the room is true, Britt was not at the night club before going missing.

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA - Over a fortnight has passed since young Australian Britt Lapthorne went missing in Dubrovnik, and the investigation is still underway. She was last seen on September 18 in Dubrovnik, where her father had arrived this Friday.

The police have found her mobile phone at the hostel she was staying in, Dnevnik.hr reports.

According to the police report, her last phone call was to the hostel`s owner Ivica Perkovic, who was brought in for questioning three days ago.

If information that the mobile phone was actually found in the room is true, it would mean Britt was not at the night club before going missing, as it was previously said, but at the hostel.

The hostel owner`s son was not detained and the police have not officially characterised him as a suspect.

Apart from police forces, the search now includes helicopters and the missing girl`s father, who criticised the Croatian police several days ago, saying he was not satisfied with the operation.

~Brother of Missing Britt Asks for Psychic’s Help

~Australian Ambassador to Search for Missing Britt

~Australian Police To Search For Missing Britt

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=188879

[Grande]

Hostel passport claim denied
October 9, 2008

THE owner of the Dubrovnik hostel where Britt Lapthorne stayed has denied she was seen trying to post an Australian passport the day after the backpacker went missing.

An anonymous caller last week told Ms Lapthorne's father, Dale, that he had seen Milka Perkovic trying to mail the passport at a post office.

Mrs Perkovic's children said yesterday she had in fact sent the forgotten passport of another guest. "Our mother did not try to post Britt's passport."

SELMA MILOVANOVIC

http://www.theage.com.au/national/hostel-passport-claim-denied-20081008-4wrb.html

[Grande]

Backpackers reveal frantic email search for Britt Lapthorne
By David Murray in Dubrovnik, Croatia
October 09, 2008 12:00am

http://i35.tinypic.com/aww4ck.jpg
Frantic ... Britt Lapthorne (third from right) and friends.

FRANTIC emails between Britt Lapthorne's backpacking friends have revealed their rising panic in the days after she disappeared - while authorities dragged their feet.

"I duno if u heard but we went to the club the last nite in dubrovnik and as of 7pm the next day britt did not come home," backpacker Dominic Dabrowiecki wrote to Britt's former roommate Krys Noseworthy.

"She doesn't seem like the kinna girl to jus go home w some dude.

"I am REALLY worried and desperately rackin my brains to see if i can remember who she was with but so far no luck. please get back to me."

Gallery: Missing Britt Lapthorne

Canadian backpacker Ms Noseworthy had spent the last five days with Ms Lapthorne, sharing a room at their Dubrovnik hostel after meeting her on a bus in Bosnia.

They went their separate ways just hours before the 21-year-old Victorian vanished from a Dubrovnik nightclub on September 18.

Ms Noseworthy found out about her disappearance when she read the nervous email from Mr Dabrowiecki, a Polish-American.

"She left her stuff at the hostel? I just tried calling her a couple times but no answer," Ms Noseworthy replied. "Just messaged her over Facebook as well. Has she still not been found? Man, I hope she's met back up with you guys by this point."

Britt's family's 'living hell'

The fears of the tourists rose for their new friend as the days passed.

"im crossin my fingers that just some weird shit happened and she's ok. ill keep u updated," said Mr Dabroweicki, by now in Poland. Ms Noseworthy replied on September 23: "I wish there was something I could do . . . Still no word from her."

Like several crucial witnesses, Ms Noseworthy has not been interviewed by police, despite contacting Australia's foreign affairs department by email on September 26.

The details come as Ms Lapthorne's family suffer an agonising 10-day wait for DNA tests after an autopsy on a body pulled from a Dubrovnik bay proved inconclusive.

Ms Noseworthy, 26, said she had met Ms Lapthorne on a bus travelling from Sarajevo to Mostar on September 13. By coincidence they were planning to stay in the same hostel, Majdas' Rooms, so they checked in together. "Britt was such a sweet girl, really easy going, really loved to laugh," she said yesterday.

Both were planning to travel to Dubrovnik, so they set off together. Mr Dabrowiecki was with them after meeting them in their hostel.

"He already had a booking at the hostel in Dubrovnik. Britt and I decided to go along with him."

As they were checking in to the Dubrovnik Backpackers Club, London engineering student Gareth Hopkins also arrived and they filled out their forms together. Two hours later the four travellers and another guest - a woman named Kelly, believed to have been from California - walked to a quiet harbourside seafood restaurant.

While there have been suggestions Ms Lapthorne went to Fuego nightclub that night, Ms Noseworthy said she can be almost certain her friend stayed in.

"She was in the bunk across from me. I think she was in bed when I went to bed," she said.

The next day the pair set off into Dubrovnik's old town with Mr Dabrowiecki and Mr Hopkins, the two men they had dinner with the previous night.

They looked at photo exhibitions, walked around the ancient city and had a drink at a cafe before Ms Noseworthy had to leave for a 3pm bus to Korcula for a scuba diving course she had booked.

Ms Lapthorne made no mention to anyone of plans to meet up with anyone later that night - the night she was to disappear.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24467133-5001021,00.html

[Grande]

Britt's father furious over floating body fiasco
Paola Totaro, Dubrovnik
October 7, 2008

The Croatian police and Australian Federal Police failed to tell the father of missing Melbourne traveller, Britt Lapthorne, that a body had been found in the sea near Dubrovnik or that the corpse is unlikely to be his 21-year-old daughter.

In the cruellest twist of a farcical investigation, a sea search - with tip-offs to local media who were taken on board the vessel - was sparked after a fisherman called to say he had sighted a body in the coastal inlet directly between the town's two, newest and best-known five star resorts.

A tearful Dale Lapthorne last night described the event as a "terrible body blow, extraordinary, just extraordinary" and lashed out at the AFP liaison officer who not only failed to inform him of the find but also made the comment "damn the media".

He said the only information he received was two messages from Australian journalists, one who asked him to "call the police immediately", the other to tell him it was "likely to be Britt".

Mr Lapthorne said that when he did call the Dubrovnik police, he was told there was nothing to report, something he described as "horrible, really weird".

"It is just extraordinary. It is your worst nightmare in many ways, with this body we almost had some closure you know, some closure: 'I can at least say I'm going home with Britt"', he said, his voice choking with emotion.

"But, it is just so extraordinary, that now, at such a time ... that they find this ... we are back to square one if it is not Britt."

The sea search was underway within half-an-hour of the fisherman's reported sighting.

Croatian media were not only on-site at various vantage points but at least four or five were allowed onto a boat.

The body was removed from the water in a black body bag but almost immediately local reporters informed Australian colleagues, including The Age, that the find appeared to be too small to be a body.

The bag was collected at the port by a van and taken to the mortuary.

Four hours later, the deputy chief of the Dubrovnik Police, Ivan Kukrika, called a press conference and confirmed the body part was unlikely to be Britt's as it was too badly decomposed.

He said that the body was most likely to be that of a refugee from Albania but that DNA testing and an autopsy would commence on Tuesday morning 10 am Croatian time (7pm AEDT).

The fisherman who found the body, Pero Duras, told local media he would "rather forget what I saw".

"I saw the body floating with its back up - and that's the only thing I could see, a bare back," he said.

Mr Duras said his first thought was the body could be Britt's and he notified police immediately.

Mr Lapthorne said he was utterly disappointed by the Australian Federal police officer who he accused of mouthing political platitudes.

He said consular assistance had been fantastic but that without the support of Australians, he did not believe the government would be doing anything.

"I am so grateful for that and for the media. . .we have to make the government take some responsibility now," he said.

"With the comments I heard today from the AFP, they sounded so political that I lost heart in the government.

"I want honesty . . .that statement today [from the AFP officer] was totally dishonest..'no stone unturned. . .no, I don't think it indicates that at all."

Mr Lapthorne, his son Darren and Britt's boyfriend, Simon, spent a few hours yesterday afternoon outside of Dubrovnik "hibernating".

He said they even managed a few laughs, talking about Britt, how funny and how much fun she was.

He said it was therapeutic for them to remember happy things.

It was terribly hard for his wife as she was alone at home in Melbourne, and he had to wake her at 3am to tell her the news about the floating body.

Mr Lapthorne said that tomorrow, he and his family would pick up "and fight another day".

He was confident that the specialist detective from Zagreb appeared to be well briefed and that new leads might still provide the family with a little hope.

with Selma Milovanovic

http://www.watoday.com.au/world/britts-father-furious-over-floating-body-fiasco-20081007-4vc4.html

[Grande]

Britt Lapthorne's brother 'at breaking point' as search continues
Mex Cooper
October 9, 2008

http://i35.tinypic.com/15i6kxw.jpg

Britt Lapthorne's brother is at breaking point as he waits to hear whether a body found floating in the sea off Dubrovnik is his missing little sister.

Darren Lapthorne's partner of two years, Jessica Berry, returned to Australia on Tuesday after spending a week in Croatia searching for Ms Lapthorne, who disappeared three weeks ago.

She said Mr Lapthorne, 25, was emotionally exhausted after at first believing a decomposed body discovered on Sunday was his missing 21-year-old Melbourne backpacker.

"He's probably the worst he's sounded because when they found the body they just accepted it was Britt. They had closure and they could go home and start the grieving process and they could bring her home,'' she said.

"Darren rang his mum and said 'It's Britt' and then when they told him it might not be Britt you start from zero again.

"His spirits are really low at the moment. I just asked how he is and he said 'It doesn't matter about me at all, it matters about me finding my sister'.''

As Mr Lapthorne and his father Dale wait for formal identification of the body, which could take up to nine days, Ms Berry said they were considering hiring a private investigator to widen the search for Ms Lapthorne from Croatia's borders.

She said the father and son were prepared to stay in Dubrovnik for as long as it took to find the RMIT student who was last seen outside a nightclub in the coastal tourist town in the early hours of September 18.

"We just have to keep thinking she's still alive,'' Ms Berry said.

"She could be across the border somewhere in a different country or she could be still held kidnapped or something in Dubrovnik, we just don't know, but we just still hope and pray she's alive, I feel she is.''

But Ms Berry said Ms Lapthorne's family knew its hopes and prayers could be in vain.

"It's pretty ironic there's a body in the water and where she could have disappeared in the main swimming area of Dubrovnik and you would assume that it's Britt's,'' she said.

"It could still be her, she would have been in the water for two-and-a-half weeks, you are going to be badly decomposed.

"I hope it's not her, I hope she's still alive but if it is her it's a closure for the family.''

The Dubrovnik police have been heavily criticised for their handling of the case. Ms Berry said when she and Mr Lapthorne first arrived they found Ms Lapthorne's backpack unopened on the floor of the police station with no evidence that an investigation was under way.

"Just seeing her things on the ground and the backpack we knew this is real now, it felt real but when you see her stuff and it's not with her that's when it hit us,'' she said.

Ms Berry said the Lapthorne family were now pleased that leads and statements from fellow travellers were being followed up after the arrival of a homicide investigator from the Croatian capital of Zagreb.

She said she had deliberately ignored statements made by Ivica Perkovic, the manager of the hostel where Ms Lapthorne was last staying, which included labelling her as promiscuous.

"We actually came into contact with him in Dubrovnik and I think he's really weird and I wouldn't trust anything he said anyway,'' she said.

Ms Berry, a cyclist, had been living in Dortmund, Germany with Mr Lapthorne, a former Australian road cycling champion, since January.

Ms Lapthorne stayed with the couple before visiting Paris with her parents for her 21st and then returned to Germany in the the weeks before she headed to Croatia.

Close family friend Darren Casey was in Germany at the same time as Ms Lapthorne and said he was impressed by her friendly and outgoing nature.

"It's very rare you meet a person like that, that you're taken by pretty much straight away and just her outlook on life,'' he said.

"She just took a keen interest in people and life in general, that's what inspired me about her.''

He said Ms Lapthorne was nothing like the person described by Mr Perkovic.

"That actually brought me to tears and a lot of people who knew Britt ... even talking now it makes you tremble a bit,'' he said.

"I was just flabbergasted and couldn't believe it, I mean, of course, she's the age of 21, there's no law saying you can't go out and have a drink and enjoy yourself ... (but) I think the character reference was completely off-track.''

Mr Casey said Ms Lapthorne was "bubbly'' and "full of life'' but also mature and from a well-travelled family who had lived in Hong Kong for three years.

He said his last Facebook message to her on September 8 was to have fun and be careful.

"She was saying to me how she was having the time of her life, he said.

Mr Casey said the search for his sister had left Mr Lapthorne looking older and frail.

"You can see in his eyes that he's just desperate to find his sister for himself and especially for his mum Elke and also for Dale,'' he said.

Ms Berry said her partner would want people to know that his sister was a dedicated person with dreams and goals who made the most of every day of her life.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/britt-lapthornes-brother-at-breaking-point-as-search-continues-20081009-4xci.html?page=-1

[Grande]

Britt's mother gives DNA sample
October 09, 2008 08:09pm

THE mother of missing backpacker Britt Lapthorne today provided DNA samples to the Australian Federal Police for comparison with a body found in the sea off the Croatian city of Dubrovnik.

While the badly decomposed body is considered unlikely to be that of Britt, who disappeared in the city on September 17, a distressed Elke Lapthorne provided direct mouth swab samples, along with items from the family home.

Authorities have said it would take up to 10 days to identify the body which was found in a cove off Dubrovnik on October 6.

"I am exhausted and my heart is being crushed by this interminable wait for news of my Britty," she said.

"Each night I wait to hear from Dale in Croatia, but part of me hopes that no news will come, unless it is good.

"Please continue to keep the porch lights on for Britt until we bring her home, and don't give up your support and pressure on DFAT to make them help us."

Her husband Dale and son Darren are in Dubrovnik in a desperate search for the 21-year-old woman from Eden Park in Melbourne's north.

The family has been critical of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), accusing them of a slow and negligent response to Britt's disappearance.

Dale Lapthorne was especially critical of the "phantom" AFP officer in Dubrovnik whom he said gave him little comfort.

But Mrs Lapthorne today said the AFP family liaison officer who interviewed her for two hours at her home today was "kind and compassionate" and offered support and clarified elements of the case.

Ms Pascarl said while Mrs Lapthorne believed the AFP visit was a move in the right direction, it should have occurred weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Family First senator Steve Fielding called on the Government to immediately send an expert in Croatian law to Dubrovnik, if it was to fulfil its pledge to "do everything it can" to help the family.

"This family is desperate and I'm at a loss to understand why Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, after promising to do everything they can to help this grieving family, have not offered them the very help they need," he said.

"Dale Lapthorne told me the system was bewildering and that they were struggling to get answers from the authorities.

"They need a lawyer who knows the system and can hold those in the system to account as the search for Britt continues."

Senator Fielding met privately with Dale and Darren Lapthorne in Croatia while on a parliamentary delegation there last week.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24472217-5005961,00.html

[Grande]

Lapthorne Family Believes Britt Is Alive
The DNA analysis results of the body found off Dubrovnik will be finalised in 9 days, while the missing girl`s family does not lose hope.

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA – After a dead body was found in Dubrovnik several days ago, the Lapthorne family was sure it was Britt, Australian media report.

- Darren rang his mum and said `It`s Britt!`, and then when they told him it might not be Britt you start from zero again - Darren`s girlfriend Jessica Berry said.

Brother of the missing girl, Darren and her father Dale are in Dubrovnik awaiting for the results of the DNA analysis for the retrieved body. Berry said the two are prepared to stay in Croatia for as long as it takes, i.e. until Britt is found.

- We just have to keep thinking she's still alive – Berry said.

- She could be across the border somewhere in a different country or she could be still held kidnapped or something in Dubrovnik, we just don't know, but we just still hope and pray she's alive, I feel she is – Berry continued.

The results of the DNA analysis will be finalised in nine days, while the Lapthorne family will continue the search.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=190581

[Grande]

Dubrovnik Dead Body Belongs To Young Female
According to preliminary forensic results, the body belongs to a younger female person, between 150 and 160cm tall.

A dead body was found near cape Boninovo and Dance on Monday. The dead body was in a poor condition and it was impossible to identify the body at first. There is doubt that the body belongs to missing Australian Britt Lapthorne.

According to preliminary forensic results, the body belongs to a younger female person, between 150 and 160cm tall, Jutarnji.hr web site writes.

Although forensic tests and comparison with DNA samples of family members were expected to take some ten days, identification might be determined by Saturday at the latest.

Blonde hair was evident on the dead body, while just a few teeth were left on the skull, seeing how all others fell out because of the Sea`s effects.

Britt Lapthorne went missing of September 18 and the search for her has not yet yielded results. The missing girl`s brother Darren and father Dale are in Dubrovnik to help with the investigation. They hope Britt is still alive.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=190665

[Grande]

Doubts on AFP officer for Britt
John Kidman and Paola Totaro
October 10, 2008

THE Australian Federal Police sent a staunch Serbian nationalist to Dubrovnik to act as a liaison officer between the Croatian police and the family of missing Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne.

The decision to send Marko Dokmanovic to Dubrovnik has raised questions about the AFP's judgement, given the recent bloody history between Serbs and Croats in the region.

Dubrovnik was shelled by Serb and Montenegrin forces in the early 1990s during Croatia's struggle for independence.

The Age has been told that Mr Dokmanovic, dubbed "the Phantom" by Britt's father Dale Lapthorne, had been replaced. However, the AFP insisted last night that he would stay in Dubrovnik, but that a new officer had been sent to join him.

Mr Lapthorne has claimed Mr Dokmanovic, who he insists he has seen only once, threatened to stop giving the family information if Mr Lapthorne did not stop speaking to the media.

Senior police sources have privately expressed concern about the assignment of Mr Dokmanovic to Dubrovnik, given his background.

He is understood to have tattoos of crossed Serbian flags on his legs with the words "Serbia Forever" tattooed beneath the flags. Mr Dokmanovic and his father are understood to have protested outside the US consulate in Melbourne during the war and while he was a serving member of the AFP.

This was raised internally when he was assigned to an AFP peacekeeping contingent that served in Cyprus in late 1991. At the time, concerns were expressed about him wanting to visit Yugoslavia while on leave.

The AFP declined to comment on Mr Dokmanovic's Serbian background or why he was sent to Croatia. A spokeswoman said Mr Dokmanovic had 25 years' experience in major investigations and had successfully established a direct line of communication with Croatian police.

Meanwhile, a Croatian newspaper last night reported that a body found in the sea off Dubrovnik was that of a young woman. Croatian police have said previously that it was extremely unlikely the remains were Britt's.

Her mother Elke yesterday provided a DNA sample to the AFP. Her father provided a sample last week.

Jacqueline Pascarl, who is acting as a spokeswoman for the family, said the Lapthornes were "not concerned with anyone's political affiliations as long as it does not compromise the investigation into the disappearance of their daughter".

With SELMA MILOVANOVIC

http://www.theage.com.au/national/doubts-on-afp-officer--for-britt-20081010-4xod.html

[Audie]

IDENTIFICATION SOON

Dubrovnik Dead Body Belongs To Young Female

Published: October 09, 2008 14:54h

According to preliminary forensic results, the body belongs to a younger female person, between 150 and 160cm tall.

A dead body was found near cape Boninovo and Dance on Monday. The dead body was in a poor condition and it was impossible to identify the body at first. There is doubt that the body belongs to missing Australian Britt Lapthorne.

According to preliminary forensic results, the body belongs to a younger female person, between 150 and 160cm tall, Jutarnji.hr web site writes.

Although forensic tests and comparison with DNA samples of family members were expected to take some ten days, identification might be determined by Saturday at the latest.

Blonde hair was evident on the dead body, while just a few teeth were left on the skull, seeing how all others fell out because of the Sea`s effects.

Britt Lapthorne went missing of September 18 and the search for her has not yet yielded results. The missing girl`s brother Darren and father Dale are in Dubrovnik to help with the investigation. They hope Britt is still alive.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=190665

[Audie]

OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION

Body Found in Sea is Britt Lapthorne!

Published: October 10, 2008 19:25h

The police have confirmed that the body pulled from the sea near Dubrovnik is Britt Lapthorne, even though the family hoped otherwise.

The DNA analysis confirmed that the body found near Boninovo is that of the missing Australian Britt Lapthorne, confirmed the Dubrovnik-Neretva county police department.

“The DNA analysis showed that the body found at sea is Britt Lapthorne” said the spokesperson of the Dubrovnik-Neretva county police department, Ivan Kukrika.

The unfortunate Australian went missing on September 17, and since then every trace of her has been lost. Unhappy with the work of the police, her father and brother came to Dubrovnik, and even offered an award of one hundred thousand euros for some concrete information.

The 21 year old girl went missing during the night between September 17 and 18, and the largest police search to date was undertaken to find her. Her body was found by a fisherman near Boninovo on October 6.

Because of the bad state of the body, the pathologists from Dubrovnik were not able to determine the identity of the body, so a tissue sample was sent to Zagreb for DNA testing.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=191165

[Amusedtdth]

:1222423::1222423::1222423:

[Faith]

Croatian police confirm body is Britt Lapthorne


It has been confirmed that the body found in the Adriatic sea off the coast of Dubrovnik is that of missing Melbourne woman Britt Lapthorne.

Police in Croatia held a press conference overnight to deliver the news.

The body found in the waters off the Dubrovnik coast was Britt Lapthorne - the Melbourne backpacker last seen alive on September 18.

Deputy police chief in Dubrovnik Ivan Kukrica spoke for 15 minutes but said nothing about how Ms Lapthorne died.

He said an official report on the cause of death would be prepared over the weekend in Zagreb where the body was taken for DNA testing.

He said the investigation into exactly how she disappeared will continue.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/11/2388276.htm?section=justin

[Faith]

:1222423::1222423::1222423:

[Faith]

Father to share Britt's final journey home



Seamus Bradley and Paola Totaro
October 12, 2008
Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View (http://www.theage.com.au/national/father-to-share-britts-final-journey-home-20081011-4ys8.html?page=-1)

http://images.theage.com.au/2008/10/11/231747/svLAPTHORNE-420x0.jpg .

A HEARTBROKEN Dale Lapthorne will now honour the final, sacred vow he made to his only daughter. He will bring her home.

- DNA tests confirm identity
- Cause of death not yet known
- 'She lived every moment'
Just before he flew to Croatia two weeks ago to join his son in the frantic search for his 21-year-old daughter, Britt, Mr Lapthorne told The Sunday Age there was still a glimmer of hope that the missing backpacker would be found safe and well.

But he also publicly acknowledged his deepest fear: "I know it might be in a bodybag but I want my daughter back."

Yesterday, about 5am Melbourne time, the Lapthorne family heard the news. Their beloved daughter was indeed dead, probably murdered - the exact cause of death may be known by tomorrow.

Croatian authorities and the Australian Federal Police said DNA tests had confirmed that the body of a young woman found floating in a bay at Dubrovnik six days ago was that of Ms Lapthorne, who had vanished after leaving a nightclub in the early hours of September 18.

Croatian media reports yesterday said police had found a T-shirt eight kilometres north of Dubrovnik which they believed was Ms Lapthorne's. They gave no further details.

News of the DNA results prompted an immediate outpouring of grief. In Dubrovnik, Mr Lapthorne and his son, Darren, emotionally and physically exhausted after weeks of desperate searching, retreated to their hotel rooms. A receptionist at the Berkeley Hotel said both men were "devastated" and no further comment would be made.

Mr Lapthorne earlier told The Sunday Age that "in a worst-case scenario we can look back and say, 'Gee, but she lived every moment, she really lived. She's travelled the world. She's had a very full life."'

In Melbourne, Ms Lapthorne's distraught mother, Elke, told reporters that her daughter had simply been "at the wrong place at the wrong time". Continued... (http://www.theage.com.au/national/father-to-share-britts-final-journey-home-20081011-4ys8.html?page=2)


Mrs Lapthorne said the family would scatter flowers near where the body was found and that her husband and son would not return to Melbourne until Britt's body had been released by Croatian authorities.


The Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, said he had phoned Mrs Lapthorne to offer condolences and to assure her that consular officials would remain in Dubrovnik for as long as the family needed them.


Premier John Brumby said: "I can only extend my heartfelt sympathies to the Lapthorne family. I think they've shown extraordinary courage and it's unimaginable how difficult this is."


Online, the number of members of a Facebook site dedicated to finding Ms Lapthorne surged by more than 2000 in a few hours, to more than 19,000.
The messages, posted by people from across the globe, many of them strangers, were heartfelt.


Kate Houlihan, who studied international business with Ms Lapthorne at RMIT, told The Sunday Age of her friendship with a wonderful, generous, vibrant, adventurous and happy young woman "who would have done great things". Ms Houlihan said she suspected foul play when Croatian sources "portrayed her as being wild, but that's not her".


"Whoever's done it, I want them found as soon as possible. I'd like to … somehow get into a cell with, I suspect, the guy who did this and shoot him," she said.


Confirmation of Ms Lapthorne's death came after three weeks of official bungling of the investigation, with the Lapthornes initially frustrated over a lack of action in Dubrovnik, and limited support from Australian officials. When a body was found on Monday, the family found out through media reports. They were initially told it could not be Ms Lapthorne's body as it had "been in the water for months".


Yesterday, however, Dubrovnik Deputy Chief of Police Ivan Kukrika said DNA analysis had confirmed the identity.


"I have to admit that I had, based on the state the body was in, really thought that it was not Britt," he said, adding that delays in the case had been caused by Interpol, the international police organisation.


"If we had had a chance to question those people (backpackers) at the very beginning of the investigation, everything would have played out differently," he told a local newspaper.


The bungling echoed the investigation into the disappearance and murder of a British backpacker, Peter Rushton, three years ago.


Ten days ago, Ivica Perkovic, 21, son of the owners of the hostel where Ms Lapthorne was staying, was questioned by police for 36 hours and released.


The Lapthornes have said a second post mortem examination will be performed in Australia after Ms Lapthorne body is returned home.


http://www.theage.com.au/national/father-to-share-britts-final-journey-home-20081011-4ys8.html?page=2

[Faith]

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll116/helpfindthemissing/Stuff/God_bless_you.jpg

[Nut44x4]

Dale Lapthorne questions body identification

Posted 1 hour 16 minutes ago
Updated 1 hour 11 minutes ago

Dale Lapthorne has spoken publicly about the death of his daughter in Croatia, raising questions about the identity of the body.

Police in Croatia yesterday confirmed that a body found in the Adriatic Sea near Dubrovnik last Monday is that of their missing daughter Britt.

Fighting back the tears, Mr Lapthorne said his daughter had a long and bright future ahead of her that had been tragically cut short.

He insisted that there was no way she would have chosen to end her life and that he was sure there was foul play involved.

He said there were still more questions than there were answers about the case, chief among them was that if her body was in the bay of Dubrovnik the whole time why did it take 18 days to surface and why was it so badly decomposed.

The results of the autopsy will be released on Monday.


T-shirt find

Meanwhile, a t-shirt said to be Britt Lapthorne's has been found 10 kilometres inland from the bay where her body was found.

Croatia's biggest and most widely read national newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija reports that a dark coloured long-sleeve t-shirt was found in the suburb of Stikovica.

The article quotes an unnamed police officer as saying that it was discovered in grass by the side of the road.

Mr Lapthorne says police have denied the report, but he says he no longer trusts authorities in Croatia after being earlier told that the body found last week was almost definitely not his daughter's.

He says he and his son hope to take the body home on Tuesday or Wednesday, where they will order more DNA testing to confirm its identity.

Britt Lapthorne went missing on September 18, after spending the night at the Fuego Latin club in Dubrovnik.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/12/2388539.htm

[Amusedtdth]

This whole story is heartbreaking. The LE was so quick after this body was found to discount it as being Brits due to decomp yet know it turns out to be her, at least thats what the DNA suggests. Apparently the parents are bringing her home where they will order more DNA testing to confirm. I must say, I don't blame them. I would be a little suspect myself in this situation. It almost sounds as if they are passing this person off as her just to be rid of this. Its a terrible thing to say or even think but given the circumstances and the way the case was ran....it speaks for itself.
My thought continue to be with Brits family and friends and truly hope they find closure and their daughter. I would also continue to look into exactly how this investigation was being ran, it just doesn't sound right.
IMO

[Nut44x4]

Father says Britt's death no 'accident'
Rod Curtis and Paola Totaro in Dubrovnik | October 12, 2008

Britt's father, Dale Lapthorne, fought back tears yesterday as he railed against the silence of local authorities.

"I am getting answers but I am not getting answers that give me confidence," he said.

"I asked the question: 'why such a high level of decomposition?' I was told it's warm water. Rubbish. That is a rubbish answer, don't take me as stupid, I'm just not that stupid.

"Something is wrong ... I can smell a rat, I can smell a rat somewhere. It would be just so absurd to conclude that it was misadventure.

"I don't want to target anybody but Britt did not jump off a cliff and cut her legs off on the way down and do something else to decompose herself ... and there's no scientific explanation ... I just want to know why."

Mr Lapthorne said he could not accept suggestions being made in Croatia that her death had been a simple accident. He believed that an investigation was underway that would reveal "something big".

"I just have the feeling from what I have been told that something is happening. Something big is happening."

Asked to provide details, Mr Lapthorne said he would rather not be asked as "he had no more" information. "I don't trust anybody, I just can't trust anymore."

Dubrovnik police stated late on Friday that a body found floating in the sea off Boninovo cove last Monday was Britt Lapthorne, the young Melbourne traveller who went missing from a local nightclub three weeks ago.

The area where she was found, less than a kilometre from the nightclub, is a popular fishing and swimming spot directly in front of two of Dubrovnik's most expensive, five star hotels. It seems almost unbelievable that her body could have been in the water in such a populated area and not be noticed, Mr Lapthorne said.

"The body has been floating in the bay for 18 days with nobody seeing it? Cruise boats going past, helicopters flying over, she jumped off a cliff in Dubrovnik and has sat there for 18 days? Something is wrong."

Police have refused to confirm any detail of the autopsy or to comment on local reports that there was no trace of violence on her body and that her T-shirt had been found 8kms north of Dubrovnik.

So far, the only official comment is that DNA testing on the corpse confirmed it was Britt's - despite police in Croatia saying on Monday that it was "unlikely to be Britt".

Dale Lapthorne signalled that he was not satisfied with the results of the autopsy and DNA tests and would ask for a second post mortem or further independent verification.

He said he believed that somebody had deliberately damaged Britt's body in an effort to cover up her identity: "A person does not cut off their legs and arm, throw maybe acid on themselves and then jump into the water. It just doesn't happen. I expect a reasonable answer, something that is believable.

"I want to be convinced that this case is not being swept under the carpet.

"I am not out for revenge or anything like that. I just want honesty. We have real questions that need to be answered, and I want those answered and I want them answered satisfactorily.

The news is the final, shocking blow for a family who have undergone the terrible rollercoaster ride of being told a body had been found by media on Monday morning and the police announcing just hours later that it could not be Britt because the body was so decomposed. Neither piece of news was delivered officially to the family by police.

Mr Lapthorne said he and Britt's brother, Darren, had returned from searching for Britt's personal things but when they returned, they were told the detective from Zagreb wanted to see them urgently.

"We knew that probably the DNA tests could be complete but I thought this must be good news because it is earlier than normal. So we went to the office and everybody assembled, including the two AFP (Ausralian Federal Police) officers, and we were told the horrifying news," he said.

"I was so convinced it was not Britt. A lot of the police were convinced it was not Britt, I believe almost everybody was convinced it was not Britt and then we are hit with this smack in the jaw. It was just unbelievable. Unbelievable."

Dale Lapthorne joined his son, Darren, in Dubrovnik eight days ago and vowed on arrival not to leave without his "little girl".

Yesterday, deeply emotional, he said he and his son were looking at leaving Croatia by midweek: "The sooner the better ... the hardest thing is going to be coming home".

"If people knew the state of Britt's body, and I haven't seen her, but what has been explained to me, I can't even view her, I just can't, I couldn't have that memory. Elke and I want to imagine our lovely, sweet little girl. I just couldn't imagine seeing the state of my daughter and I've been advised not to. So how's that possible in 18 days without some sort of accelerant to the whole process."

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/father-says-britts-death-no-accident/2008/10/12/1223749820277.html?page=2

[Grande]

Britt Lapthorne autopsy fails to find cause of death
David Murray in Dubrovnik
October 13, 2008 10:00pm

A CROATIAN autopsy on Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne is "childish" and sheds no light on how she died, her stunned father has said in Dubrovnik.

"A Grade 12 student could do a better job than this," Dale Lapthorne said after being read the report.

"It was two pages and most of that was headings."

The report described the damage to the body but made no attempt to explain how it came to be in such a horrific state, he said.

The body was missing its lower jaw but its collar bones were intact, the report said.

"To some extent it's far worse than what we had been told previously," Mr Lapthorne said.

The Victorian coroner would conduct a new autopsy when he brought his daughter home this week, he said.

"The body will be picked up by the Victorian coroner at the airport.

"I've been assured that any investigation carried out by the coroner's department in Victoria will be a thorough scientific investigation at very high level.

"They said if your imagination is CSI, that's what the Victorian coroner's office is like."

The autopsy has taken a week to complete, which Britt's family believes was an unacceptable delay that may impact on their search for answers.

Reports in local media were suggesting that there had been a finding of no foul play, but Mr Lapthorne strongly refuted this.

"There is nothing in the report from the translation made to us that indicates accidental death or death by other means," he said.

"There are no visible signs of an act of death because the body is in such a poor condition.

"I cannot see what assistance that report would give to the police investigation."

The flimsy results are a bitter blow for the Lapthornes, who fear Britt met foul play and was dumped at sea.

The investigation into his daughter's death must continue despite the findings, Mr Lapthorne said.

"From a society point of view if there are perpetrators to a crime there needs to be resolution," he said.

"We can't tolerate people committing such a heinous crime."

Britt's brother Darren said: "There's nothing even stating why there was such a rapid rate of decomposition."

"Our main objective was to bring her home alive. We did not do that ... but at least we have the consolation that we can take her home."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24492390-952,00.html

[Nut44x4]

Family of Britt Lapthorne to seek DNA test when remains return
October 13, 2008
THE family of Britt Lapthorne, whose body was found in Croatia two weeks after she disappeared, want Australian experts to do a new DNA test.

As the family begin funeral arrangements for the 21-year-old Melbourne university student, they are seeking an independent DNA test in Australian to confirm the identity of the body.

Croatian police, at the weekend, announced that a body found in waters off Dubrovnik was Britt Lapthorne.

Britt's distraught mother, Elke Lapthorne, was today grieving at her rural Eden Park property, north of Melbourne, and did not speak publicly.

A family member said she was starting to plan a funeral and organise another DNA test.

The family member said Britt's father, Dale, and son Darren, were expected to return to Australia from Dubrovnik within the next couple of days.

Dale Lapthorne will seek fresh opinions about Britt's cause of death depending on post-mortem examination results due today.

The body was discovered last week by a local fisherman in the Adriatic Sea just a few hundred metres from the Latino Club Fuego in Dubrovnik where Britt Lapthorne was last seen in the early hours of September 18.

The Lapthorne family was initially advised by police that the body was unlikely to be Britt.

They have been critical of the police investigation.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24488174-2702,00.html?from=public_rss

[Nut44x4]

Mystery of missing Britt Lapthorne footage

October 13, 2008 03:40pm

DETAILS have emerged about how footage bizarrely came to be missing from two independent sets of security cameras on the night Britt Lapthorne vanished.
Seven cameras at a nightclub where Britt was last seen and another city camera directly out the front of the club all had no vision from the night Britt disappeared.

The cameras would have revealed if Britt left the club alone or in company - crucial information as her devastated family wonders how her badly decomposed body came to be washed up in a bay at Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Gallery: Britt Lapthorne, a young life lost
Worst nightmare: Lapthornes prepare for Britt's funeral

Autopsy results are tonight due to address the family's fears that the 21-year old backpacker met foul play and was dumped at sea.

As he waited for the results yesterday, Britt's shattered brother Darren was contemplating the strange set of circumstances that had so far robbed the family of answers.

Darren had his first meeting with police on the day he arrived in Dubrovnik, 11 days after Britt vanished.

Police told him during the meeting that there was no security camera footage from Fuego nightclub's seven cameras because of a blackout.

But after he asked for records of the blackout, he was told a different story.

"A couple of days later they said a problem with the wiring had interfered with the footage," he said.

Police told him they would try to salvage the footage in the capital Zagreb but later informed him the vital images were lost forever.

Dubrovnik authorities have a separate set of four high-tech cameras next to the club to protect an adjoining video-screen war memorial.

One of those cameras faces the entrance to Fuego and should have provided high-quality images of Britt.

Police told Darren in the initial meeting that the footage was "inconclusive". But when he insisted he wanted to see the vision, police admitted they did not have the footage.

It took police three days to obtain footage from the council's cameras.

When they did, they revealed the camera out the front of the club was not working from September 16 to 18, the crucial period when Britt was in the club.

Police maintained in a series of public statements that there was footage available but that it was of poor quality and that Darren had been given a viewing.

What wasn't mentioned was that the only existing footage was from another council camera 50m away from the nightclub.

All the more frustrating for Darren was that the footage was of exceptional quality, but could only see up to a point just before the nightclub.

"Either the footage directly in front of the club or from the nightclub itself would have provided so many answers," he said.

"To hear they weren't working was such a blow."

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24488565-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss

[Grande]

Lapthorne's body shows 'no signs of violence'
By Europe correspondent Emma Alberici
Updated 1 hour 6 minutes ago

Croatian police say the results of the autopsy on the body of Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne show no signs of violence.

The 21-year-old's body was found in the Adriatic Sea off the Croatian town of Dubrovnik on October 6.

Australian federal police officers in Dubrovnik told the Lapthorne family the results of the autopsy were inconclusive.

But at a press conference in the old town, deputy chief of police Ivan Kukrica went further and said the two page coroner's report showed no evidence of violence.

According to the version presented to her father Dale Lapthorne, the body was in such a severe state of decomposition that no cause of death could be established.

In his five minute address to the media, deputy chief Kukrica took a swipe at the journalists covering the story in Dubrovnik for their "misinformation".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/14/2390082.htm

[nicky]

I pray when they get the body back to Australia that they can find out what really happened and that some type of justice can be served on those who have done something to Britt! All those cameras don't just happen to go out at the same time!jmo

Rest In Peace Britt!

[Grande]

Croatian judge Djordjo Benussi swims against Britt Lapthorne
David Murray
October 14, 2008 09:25am

A JUDGE who signed a Britt Lapthorne autopsy that found "no evidence of violence" has swum where her body was found.

IN the same idyllic bay where Britt Lapthorne's body was found, judge Djordjo Benussi dived in for his daily after-work swim today.

Judge Benussi makes the journey to Boninovo Bay every day, changes into his swimmers and takes a dip in the crystal-clear waters.

The only difference today was that hours earlier he had signed off on the findings of Britt's hotly-disputed autopsy.

While judge Benussi knows every curve of the bay from his daily visits, he appears as lost as everyone else about what happened to Britt.

He told a Croatian news website that Britt's skull was "without traumatic changes''.

"That's very important. Such changes are in more cases a sign of violent death,'' he said.

But he confirmed Britt's body was so badly decomposed that it was impossible to determine how she died.

Earlier police spokesman Ivan Kukrika gave a bizarre press conference.

Mr Kukrika read out a four paragraph statement said simply that there was "no evidence of violence'' in Britt's death.

He made no mention of the inability to determine the cause of death, with locals widely interpreting the results to mean there was no foul play involved.

Mr Kukrika had arrived 45 minutes late to the press conference and looked furious.

It is possible he had read online reports from Australian media, in which Britt's father Dale slammed the autopsy as being "childish'' and worse than the work of a grade 12 student.

"A grade 12 student could do a better job than this," Dale Lapthorne said after being read the report.

"It was two pages and most of that was headings."

The report described the damage to the body but made no attempt to explain how it came to be in such a horrific state, he said.

"To some extent it's far worse than what we had been told previously," Mr Lapthorne said.

Mr Kukrika took a swipe at the media, and possibly Britt's family, for "disinformation'' then stormed out, refusing to answer any questions.

He had last week called a press conference to announce that the body found in Boninovo Bay "almost certainly'' was not Britt.

A DNA test proved him wrong, but perhaps worse was that he had failed to advise Britt's family of the police theory before he spoke to about two dozen reporters, photographers and camera crews.

Indicating the horrific state of Britt's body, judge Benussi said that there were no lungs present to determine whether she had drowned.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24493686-2862,00.html

[Grande]

The bungling of the Britt Lapthorne case
14/10/2008 4:31:00 PM. | Chris Smith

http://i34.tinypic.com/2ivo1et.jpg

As you may know, my conversations last week with Dale Lapthorne, the father of dead backpacker Britt, uncovered all sorts of bungling associated with the investigation into her disappearance.

Croatian authorities didn’t contact key witnesses in time and they didn’t know how to use Facebook, which has become the key to locating any young person anywhere, especially backpackers.

And the fact that the Federal Police here sent a Serbian Nationalist to deal with Croatia Police is just dumb.

So somehow, there needs to be an inquiry into the failure of police to track down what happened to Britt.

But anyway, the cause of her death is totally mystifying, because the coroner there concluded that there was no evidence of foul play.

Dale Lapthorne has labeled the Croatian autopsy as "childish".

He said: “A grade 12 student could do a better job than this."

Britt’s body was missing its lower jaw, her legs and an arm were missing and most of her teeth and hair had gone. Her body was found, badly decomposed.

So did she jump from a cliff as local reports are suggesting? Maybe.

Is it a case of slipping or committing suicide Or, as her father suspects, a case of murder and mutilation?

There’s another autopsy to come, a local one. Her body will be picked up by the Victorian coroner at Tullamarine, later this week.

Either way, what a devastating outcome for the family.

How do you get on with life after that? How do you enjoy the years ahead, without constantly thinking about the shock and tragedy of losing such a lovely daughter?

Thank God we think it happens to other people.

And that’s what Dale and Elke Lapthorne thought too.

http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/10/14/The_bungling_of_the_Britt_Lapthorne_case

[Grande]

Britt Lapthorne death clues as body brought home
Print October 15, 2008 12:00am

A HUGE effort is under way in Australia to ensure Britt Lapthorne's family is given a chance to find out what happened to the 21-year old.

Victoria's Coroner will arrange to pick up Britt's body when her father, Dale, brings her home on the hardest journey of his life this week.

The Coroner will then sign off on a second autopsy, which the family hopes will provide answers on how her body came to be in such a horrific state.

The help is a huge relief to the devastated family, who had been planning to arrange a private autopsy.

"Departments such as AQIS, Customs, immigration, everybody has to be involved to ensure that Britt's body can be returned and we have a second opinion," Mr Lapthorne said of the operation under way at home.

The assistance is in stark contrast to the family's earlier treatment, when the Australian Federal Police warned them to tone down comments, stop talking to media and consider relations between Australia and Croatia.

Outrage at bungling in the case appears to have convinced Australian authorities they needed to do more.

The Australian intervention could be interpreted as an official lack of faith in the initial autopsy and is unlikely to be received well in Croatia.

But Mr Lapthorne says it is a "family's right" to be able to rest peacefully after earlier labelling a two-page Croatian autopsy report as "childish". "The autopsy report was very fundamental. It talked about the physical condition of the body in some detail, but that was all," Mr Lapthorne said. "It was totally inconclusive, it was non-scientific."

On the Australian autopsy, he added: "If it concurs with what has been investigated in Croatia, fine and good; I accept that."

Mr Lapthorne remains convinced Britt's death was not an accident and is effectively challenging police and medical experts to prove him wrong.

"At the end of the day the missing body parts have not washed up, the missing clothing has not washed up, the purse has not washed up, the camera is not there," he said.

Mr Lapthorne and his son Darren hope to bring Britt home on a flight departing Dubrovnik on Thursday.

"We came here to retrieve Britt, hopefully alive and we could take her home," he said yesterday.

"We failed. But as a very poor consolation prize, we go home with Britt on her last journey with us.

"That is better than no closure at all. I mean it's a very shallow closure and one that we will never get over."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24499066-953,00.html

[Grande]

Australian help for Britt Lapthorne's father
David Murray
October 15, 2008 12:00am

BRITT Lapthorne's father hopes to discover how his daughter died in Croatia after a sudden flood of help from home.

Dale Lapthorne said Victoria's coroner had become involved after requests from state and federal Opposition MPs.

The State Coroner would arrange to collect Britt's body when he brought her home this week and do a second autopsy, he said.

The desperate family had planned to arrange a private autopsy before the offer was known.

"Departments such as AQIS, Customs, Immigration . . . everybody has to be involved to ensure that Britt's body can be returned and we have a second opinion," Mr Lapthorne said.

The assistance constrasts with the family's earlier treatment.

The Australian Federal Police had warned them to tone down their comments, stop talking to the media, and consider the relationship between Australia and Croatia.

Mr Lapthorne had earlier labelled a two-page Croatian autopsy report on his 21-year-old daughter "childish".

"(It) was very fundamental. It talked about the physical condition of the body in some detail, but that was all.

"It was totally inconclusive -- it was non-scientific," he said.

"If (the Melbourne autopsy) concurs with what has been investigated in Croatia, fine and good, I accept that."

But he remained convinced Britt's death was not an accident.

"At the end of the day the missing body parts have not washed up, the missing clothing has not washed up, the purse has not washed up, the camera is not there," he said.

Mr Lapthorne and his son Darren hope to bring Britt's body home on a flight leaving Dubrovnik tomorrow.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24498345-661,00.html

[Grande]

Family pledge not to return without Britt
Paola Totaro in Dubrovnik
October 15, 2008 - 8:10AM

http://i38.tinypic.com/30wb6m9.jpg

Britt Lapthorne's father and brother are battling to make the candlelight vigil for the 21-year-old in Melbourne on Saturday night, having yet to finalise a flight that will allow them to accompany her remains on the long journey home.

Dale Lapthorne and his son, Darren, had pledged they would not return to Australia without Ms Lapthorne's body and have refused to fly separately from her remains.

The body, which will be delivered to the Victorian coroner on arrival in Australia, requires specialised treatment as it cannot undergo normal funeral arrangements and preparation.

The logistics of the body's repatriation are complex and have required the co-operation of several Australian government departments, including Customs, Quarantine and Foreign Affairs.

Mr Lapthorne said the family had been asked to ensure that no embalmment was done to the body and "that has been agreed to".

"There are a lot of formalities to undertake in Australia because that is not normally the allowable case. There is a lot of paperwork to be undertaken to get such a body into Australia," he said.

"Departments such as AQIS [Quarantine], Customs, Immigration ... everyone has to be involved to ensure that Britt's body can be returned and we have a second opinion.

"I am not doubting the Croatian assessment, not doubting at all, but as a parent I am entitled to a second opinion," he said.

However, the logistics and protracted negotiations with air carriers, including Qantas and Malaysia Airlines, means that the body and Ms Lapthorne's family might not be able to leave Croatia until Friday.

This means Ms Lapthorne's family will struggle to make the vigil in Melbourne on Saturday.

Friends on Facebook have organised a purple ribbon - purple being Ms Lapthorne's favourite colour - to be worn in her memory.

The family also wanted to thank the backpackers and supporters who have used the networking site to try to energise the Croatian police's investigation into her disappearance from a Dubrovnik nightclub on September 18.

Memorial plans

The memorial was set down for 7.30pm in Melbourne's Flagstaff Gardens.

Mr Lapthorne said that, while the body was released and Ms Lapthorne's passport was returned to the family, it was imperative that they travel together on her "final journey".

He asked for privacy on arrival in Melbourne.

"This is going to be the most stressful time of our lives, not just the announcement that it's Britt, but I'll meet [my wife] Elke [and] Darren, and hopefully [Britt's boyfriend Simon Imberger] will be able to be there at the same time, and it will be the most stressful time of our lives."

He said the family did not wish to address the media at that time.

"We have asked for government assistance in every way to minimise the stressful impact on our family and we are being assured that will be done.

"So although the media has been so helpful in helping us find Britt and you've been great, but at this one particular time, on our arrival back to Australia, we will have to exclude you," he said.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/10/15/1223750074577.html

[Grande]

Lapthorne's plan final search
By Valkerie Mangnall in Dubrovnik | October 15, 2008

BRITT Lapthorne's father today planned a final search of the area where her body was found as he prepared to bring her home from Dubrovnik.

Dale Lapthorne and son Darren will miss a Saturday night candlelight vigil for Britt in Melbourne as they will be accompanying her body home.

After protracted negotiations between airlines and government staff to ensure they do not leave Croatia without her, they will fly from Dubrovnik to London via Zagreb early Friday (local time).

They will spend Friday night in London and arrive in Melbourne at 8pm (AEDT) Sunday.

Mr Lapthorne said he did not want to sound gruesome, but he and Darren wanted to walk the rocks near where police recovered Britt's badly decomposed and dismembered body on October 6 to satisfy themselves nothing was missed.

"They've told us that her body may have been bashed around the rocks and we just wonder if something has been missed ... there must be body parts ... a leg, arm," he said.

Dale and Darren Lapthorne travelled to Dubrovnik to search for 21-year-old Britt after she disappeared in the early hours of September 18.

On arrival in Melbourne they will be reunited with her grieving mother Elke, who stayed home.

Mrs Lapthorne will attend Saturday's service, arranged by Britt's friends, at Melbourne's Flagstaff Gardens.

At the service, it's expected the family will thank those who have supported them, including the many backpackers who used the Facebook website to help search for Britt.

"I'm sorry we're going to miss the vigil but Elke will be there and many friends and family," Mr Lapthorne said.

Mr Lapthorne was critical of Australian authorities early in the investigation into Britt's disappearance.

But he could not fault the Federal Government over the repatriation of her remains.

He said two Australian Federal Police officers who had visited Mrs Lapthorne had been compassionate and supportive.

"I have no complaints about the Australian Government now, they have been fantastic," he said.

"I just don't know why it took so long."

The family, who have remained in the public eye for most of their ordeal, want their privacy respected when they meet in Melbourne.

A memorial service, which is open to the public, will be held at Whittlesea City office at 1pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.

Dubrovnik police last week confirmed the remains found in the sea 18 days after she went missing were Britt's.

On Monday, they released her body to the family after a post-mortem examination failed to establish how she died.

Upon return to Australia, her body will be taken straight to the Victorian coroner for further testing.

Once her body is released by Victorian authorities, the family will hold a private funeral service.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24502451-26103,00.html

[Grande]

Australian autopsy for tourist who died in Croatia
Wednesday, 15 October 2008

A second autopsy will be carried out on an Australian woman who died while on holiday in Croatia, a state coroner said yesterday, after her father criticised the first post mortem done in Dubrovnik.

The badly decomposed body of 21-year-old backpacker Britt Lapthorne was found earlier this month in the sea off Croatia's southern Adriatic coast, but a local autopsy report released Monday gave no insight into how she died.

The coroner in Lapthorne's home state of Victoria, Judge Jennifer Coate, said she had received a request from the young woman's parents to conduct a further post mortem examination of their daughter.

"The request has been granted," Coate said in a statement, adding that the state coroner's office would take possession of the body once it arrived in Melbourne.

Lapthorne had been on an extended European holiday when she went missing in the early hours of September 18 after visiting a Dubrovnik nightclub.
Her father Dale, who travelled to Dubrovnik to search for his daughter, said Monday he did not doubt the findings of the two-page Croatian report, which listed the cause of death as "unknown".

But he said it was "totally inconclusive" and "non-scientific".

"It was just a report on the physical condition of the body from a visual point of view, not from a scientific point of view at all, and no forensic testing whatsoever," he told Australian reporters in Dubrovnik.

"I mean this in Australian terms and even in Croatian terms is a very important investigation.

"Why this has been treated so poorly and just a basic autopsy report?"
He asked that Croatian people not view his request for an Australian autopsy as an insult.

"It is just a family right to be able to have a second opinion and for us to rest peacefully in that the correct assessment was done," he said.

The deputy chief of police in Dubrovnik, Ivan Kukrica, told reporters the report showed no evidence of violence that would explain the state of the body, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said.

Croatian police interviewed as many as 340 people after Lapthorne went missing and have said that the criminal investigation is continuing.
Lapthorne's body is expected to leave Croatia tomorrow.

http://www.macaudailytimesnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17563&Itemid=32

[Grande]

Britt Lapthorne's family visits death scene in Croatia
By David Murray in Dubrovnik
October 16, 2008 12:00am

http://i34.tinypic.com/iglnva.jpg

BRITT Lapthorne's father, Dale, son Darren, and boyfriend Simon Imberger last night for the first time visited the idyllic bay where her body was found.

Boninovo Bay was perfectly calm, as it has been almost the entire time they have been in Dubrovnik on their mission to find out what happened to Britt.

Fearful that police had not conducted a thorough search of the area, they started looking for any signs of Britt, such as her missing clothes, camera and purse.

"It might be a million to one, but you never know," Mr Lapthorne said.

Meanwhile, international police have finally contacted key witnesses in the case, almost a month after she had vanished.

It has taken until after Britt's body was found, DNA tests completed and an autopsy conducted for police to reach backpackers who were out with Britt on the night she disappeared.

Police in London this week visited a Sydney woman who was one of the last to see Britt alive.

The woman, who has asked to be identified only as Ellen, is a previously unknown witness who had been staying at Britt's hostel.

Ellen, 26, a Sydney social worker, was part of the group from Britt's hostel that went to Dubrovnik's Fuego nightclub on the night of September 17.

She has shed new light on the night the 21-year old Australian vanished.

Ellen had spent most of the night with an American man and a British man who she had been travelling with for four days. She remembers that Britt had been drinking and dancing, but had not stood out from any of the other young backpackers.

"We'd all been drinking quite a lot," she said."She seemed to be in good spirits from what I saw in the nightclub.

In what may be crucial information, Ellen and her two travelling companions had walked from the nightclub back to their hostel at about the time that Britt vanished. There was no sign of Britt on their hour-long walk back to the hostel at about 3.30am.

A Scotland Yard detective interviewed her for several hours on Monday, 10 days after she had contacted Australia's Foreign Affairs Department.

"There were some questions that the Croatian police have sent out that they've been asking the police to follow up with," she said when contacted by The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

The new witness emerged as Britt's father Dale and brother Darren finalised the arrangements to bring her home. They are due to fly out of Dubrovnik tomorrow and arrive in Melbourne on Sunday.

In a dramatic about-face to the earlier treatment of the family, the Australian Federal Police arranged to pick up Britt's mother Elke and take her to the airport to meet the plane.

Britt's body will be taken away for a second autopsy, while her family will be escorted home. The public will be invited to attend an open-air service that is yet to be finalised. Britt will be cremated in a private service.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24503622-5001021,00.html

[Grande]

A month after death, police contact witnesses
David Murray
October 16, 2008 02:32am

INTERNATIONAL police finally are contacting key witnesses in the Britt Lapthorne case, almost a month after she vanished.

It has taken until after Britt's body was found, DNA tests completed and an autopsy conducted for police to reach backpackers who were out with Britt on the night she disappeared.

Police in London this week visited a Sydney woman who was one of the last to see Britt alive on September 17.

The woman, who asked to be identified only as Ellen, was a previously unknown witness who had stayed at Britt's hostel.

A Scotland Yard detective interviewed her for several hours on Monday, 10 days after she had contacted Australia's Foreign Affairs Department.

Ellen, a 26-year-old Sydney social worker, was part of the group from Britt's hostel which went to Fuego nightclub in Dubrovnik.

She remembered seeing Britt drinking and dancing in the club, but said that she had not stood out

from any of the other young backpackers.

"We'd all been drinking quite a lot. She seemed to be in good spirits from what I saw in the nightclub," Ellen said.

"She wasn't behaving outrageously or anything; it wasn't hugely noticeable."

Ellen and her two travelling companions walked from the nightclub back to their hostel about the time Britt vanished, about 3.30am, but they did not see her.

"I was with the other travellers I'd been with for the last four days. We staggered home basically," she said.

She said it was a clear night and the streets were nearly deserted.

Their journey took them directly past the cliffs above Boninovo Bay, where Britt's badly decomposed body was found on October 6.

The development came as Britt's father Dale and brother Darren finalised arrangements to bring her body home.

They are due to fly out of Dubrovnik tomorrow and arrive in Melbourne on Sunday.

Britt's body will then be taken away for a second autopsy.

The public is invited to attend an open-air service before a private cremation.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24501245-2,00.html

[Grande]

Britt Lapthorne 'suspect' calls investigation a farce
David Murray
October 19, 2008 12:00am

http://i37.tinypic.com/fu83yv.jpg

A YOUNG backpacker who was branded a suspect in Britt Lapthorne's death has revealed his frustration at the lack of contact from Croatian police.

Polish-American Dominic Dabrowiecki discussed the case for the first time after a Croatian newspaper attempted to link him to Britt's death.

Mr Dabrowiecki, 23, was with Britt for her last three days and was part of the "Fuego nightclub group" that was out with her on the night she went missing.

Britt Lapthorne in pictures "In truth, I'm not surprised," he told The Sunday Mail after being informed of the report in Croatia. "I always figured me and Gareth (a London university student) would be looked at given we were the closest males to her on the road.

"I feel like the Croatian media and police may just be in shock, confused how to handle this, given their country's low murder rate and the crushing blow something like this could deal to their all-important tourism industry, and so they are fishing in the dark."

Croatia's Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper quoted a source called "the Red Lion" as accusing Mr Dabrowiecki of being involved in Britt's death.

But The Sunday Mail has found the source is a Sarajevo hostel worker with no involvement in the investigation who appears to have made the claim based on his own speculation from newspaper reports.

Mr Dabrowiecki has previously refused all requests for media interviews. But he broke his silence after the Croatian report was picked up by several media outlets.

He expressed frustration at being repeatedly contacted by journalists, but not police. He has given a statement to the Australian Federal Police, but it appears no one has contacted him for an interview.

"I have just realised that over 10 journalists have already contacted me about Britt, yet I have heard nothing from the Croatian police," he said. "If you do write a story about this, please mention that the newspaper (Slobodna Dalmacija ) has made this claim without any official statement of mine to the Croatian police."

One of the claims was that he had returned from Dubrovnik's Fuego nightclub at 7am on the day Britt disappeared. "Like I have told the AFP, the last time I saw Britt was around 3am the night she disappeared and I returned to the hostel around 4am.

"I did leave the hostel to walk a friend home and this may be the reason why someone may have seen me 'returning' at seven in the morning."

Mr Dabrowiecki's Facebook site lists him as single and his interests as "women". He studied history, Slavic languages and literature last year.

Canadian Krys Noseworthy, 26, who was with Britt for her last five days, previously told The Sunday Mail that they met Mr Dabrowiecki at a hostel in Mostar, Bosnia.

The trio travelled to Dubrovnik by bus on September 16. Mr Dabrowiecki had a booking at the Dubrovnik Backpackers Club, so the two women followed him there.

They went out for dinner that night with others from the hostel, including London student Gareth Hopkins. The four then spent the next day sightseeing in Dubrovnik.

Britt vanished later that night.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24518026-954,00.html

[Grande]

Coroner ready to perform new autopsy on Britt Lapthorne
October 20, 2008

THE Victorian coroner's office has confirmed it has the body of Britt Lapthorne for a second post-mortem examination after an initial autopsy in Croatia was inconclusive.

The 21-year-old's body arrived home in Melbourne with her father Dale and brother Darren on a flight from Croatia last night.

Croatian authorities examined Britt's badly decomposed, dismembered body, then produced a basic, two-page autopsy report that only described the state of the remains and could not determine if foul play was involved.

State coroner Jennifer Coate said Britt's body was now in the control of the office and a post-mortem examination would be held following the "usual process''.

``While we appreciate the intense interest surrounding this story, we are not in a position to provide time frames for the investigation or the completion of tests and subsequent results,'' Judge Coate said.

The Lapthorne family has vowed to find out what happened to their daughter, amid concerns the Croatian police would not continue to investigate now the family was home.

Britt went missing after spending a night at a nightclub in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik on September 18.

Her body was found on October 8 in a nearby cove by a local fisherman.

A memorial service will be held for the RMIT university student on Wednesday.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24523431-12377,00.html

[rikster1111]

I just had a look at the Facebook website for Dominic Dabrowiecki, strange how he lists as a friend 'Elke Lapthorne' (Elke being Britts mothers name), the pic shows that it is actually Britt who is photographed with Krys Noseworthy. This case is very strange and I wonder why he has not been interviewed by the police?

[Grande]

Lapthorne: Police Tampered With CCTV Footage
Britt Lapthorne’s parents claim Dubrovnik’s police removed CCTV footage where a suspicious van can be seen.
TEXT Published: February 09, 2009 21:05h

The Channel 7 documentary openly accused Dubrovnik’s police of removing parts of the CCTV footage that could lead to the murderer of their daughter, writes news.com.au.

Accusations against Dubrovnik’s police

The Australian citizen Britt Lapthorne (21) went missing on September 18, 2008 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The circumstances of her disappearance are still not clear, and she was last seen alive during the night in the “Fuego” club in the company of two men and five women.

Britt Lapthorne’s parents asked Dubrovnik’s police to see the recordings, which they were allowed to do on November 30.

The father claims that a girl can be seen on one recording, who looks like Britt, who walked towards the van, but when the same recordings were sent to Australia, that part was missing.

“When we viewed it over and over again we saw that particular frames were frozen for several frames, and then the image would jump” “So, frames had been removed. That figure is not to be seen. We know we saw that figure. It was so distinctive” said Britt Lapthorne’s father Dale.

The father of the missing Australian claims that the van matches the descriptions that the kidnapers used to intercept their victims.

Remember, the Channel 7 documentary included three girls who experienced attempted kidnappings in front of the Fuego club in Dubrovnik. An unknown group of young men introduced themselves as police officers to them, after which the documentary concluded that an organized group of kidnapers was in question.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=232564

[Grande]

Australian woman tells of Dubrovnik abduction attempt
David Murray in Dubrovnik
February 08, 2009 08:19pm

AN Australian woman has told how men who appeared to be Croatian police attempted to abduct her in Dubrovnik, just five days before backpacker Britt Lapthorne disappeared.

The woman, identified only as Amber, narrowly escaped an attempt to snatch her from the street after a night out at the Fuego nightclub, where Britt was last seen alive.

She had heard a vehicle accelerate and turned around to see a blue van heading towards her, with two men in the front and another man hanging out the side sliding door.

Separated from two friends, she would have appeared as though she was on her own.

She fled screaming and her friends were still comforting her in a nearby park when they were approached by a group of men who were carrying guns and identified themselves as police.

She was stunned when she looked up and recognised one of the men as being the person that had leant out of the speeding van to try to grab her.

The implication is that her attacker may have been a Dubrovnik police officer or associate of police.

In another development, security cameras recorded a van pulling up outside the Fuego club at close to 5am on the night Britt disappeared.

When the victim of the attempted abduction, Amber, was shown an image of the van, she said it was the same vehicle that had sped towards her.

The van appears to pick someone up from outside the club before driving off.

The woman detailed her story to Channel 7's new Sunday Night program and prepared a forensic sketch of her attacker, who has distinctive wavy blond hair and should be easily identifiable if he is an officer.

Her story - which was also detailed in a statement to the Australian Federal Police that was passed on to Croatian police - raises the theory that Britt may have been snatched by someone in a van.

Dubrovnik police have come under fire for their handling of Britt's case and will now be under pressure to explain what they have done to investigate the woman's claims.

Two other women say they were victims of separate abduction attempts after going to the Fuego club.

They have identified the same attacker through a second forensic sketch.

Britt, 21, was last seen alive at Fuego in the early hours of September 18 and her body was found in nearby Boninovo Bay three weeks later, with autopsies unable to determine how she died.

Dubrovnik residents approached by News Ltd last night defended their town, but not necessarily their police.

"People are making Dubrovnik out to be a bad place. It doesn't necessarily have to be a bad place,'' said Ljiljana Mihalj, 23.

"Everywhere you go there's bad people, bad things can happen.''

But she added: "I do think the police did a bad job. I don't think they did enough, definitely, the whole thing. How they kept quiet and how the parents weren't informed on time.''

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25025416-662,00.html

[Grande]

February 10, 2009 07:29am
probe unveils gang
DAVE MURRAY
February 08, 2009 12:00am

A GANG has been preying on young women around the Dubrovnik nightclub where Britt Lapthorne disappeared.

Explosive new findings reveal a series of abduction attempts on foreign women before and after Britt died, involving men who claimed to be undercover police.

Two victims from separate incidents have identified the same attacker through a forensic sketch.

The developments were uncovered in a major investigation by Channel 7's new Sunday Night program, to be aired tonight.

And a third woman tells how a group of men in a blue van tried to snatch her from the street just five days before Britt vanished.

The Australian woman, who had been at the same nightclub where Britt was last seen, has prepared a second sketch and will make stunning claims about the identity of the men.

It is understood that evidence also potentially links a blue van to Britt's death.

"I heard a car accelerate and I turned around and saw a blue van with two men in the front seat and a man hanging out the side sliding door, coming towards me," says the woman, identified only as Amber.

"I have never run so fast in my life."

Amber informed the Australian Federal Police of the incident after Britt's death and a report was forwarded to Croatia.

Britt, 21, from Melbourne, vanished from the Fuego nightclub in the early hours of September 18. Her body was found in nearby Boninovo Bay three weeks later.

Autopsies in Croatia and Australia could not determine a cause of death and an ongoing police investigation appears no closer to solving the case.

New Yorker Jennifer Blanchard, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Britt, told of a late-night incident 10 days after the Australian vanished.

While she was outside Fuego nightclub with friends, two men -- one short and one tall -- tried to chat her up and when she refused their advances they flashed an ID and tried to arrest her.

Ms Blanchard, who was staying at Britt's hostel and knew of her disappearance, raised the alarm after realising the "police badge" was actually a Visa credit card.

It is understood other women also have told police they were approached by men who claimed to be undercover officers.

Ms Blanchard prepared a composite sketch of the shorter man with the help of American forensic artist Steve Mancusi.

When shown the finished image, the petite blonde said it was "strikingly similar" to her attacker.

The image was then shown to another victim, an Australian backpacker identified only as Kate, who was visibly shocked and confirmed the same man was involved in her attack.

About a year before Britt vanished, Kate said she met "a tall man and a short man" who bought her rounds of tequilas at Fuego nightclub.

She "foolishly" accepted a lift from the men in a taxi, which one of them drove, but she became "petrified" when they silently started heading to the town's outskirts.

"I knew that there was something terribly wrong. I jumped out of the car while it was still moving," she said.

The men pursued her as she ran screaming down the street, only leaving when a female security guard helped her call the police.

Britt's devastated parents, Dale and Elke, last night called on Croatian police to investigate the new leads.

"This is opening up areas the Dubrovnik police have not even looked at. For us this is extremely significant," Mr Lapthorne said.

http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/02/08/54301_todays-news.html

[Grande]

Croatian cop identified as man in Lapthorne suspect sketch
By David Murray
February 10, 2009 12:01am

A CROATIAN police officer has been identified as the man in a sketch linked to the Britt Lapthorne case.

Police have confirmed they believe the man is an officer, but that he was not involved in any wrongdoing.

An Australian woman compiled the sketch after alleging a group of men tried to pull her into a van on the streets of Dubrovnik, five days before Britt vanished.

The woman said a group of armed men approached her afterwards and identified themselves as police - and that she recognised one of the men as being the person that tried to grab her.

Croatian police last night confirmed the men that approached Amber afterwards were officers.

But they said the officers were trying to help after hearing of a disturbance.

"He is a police officer but he was there on duty," police spokesman Krunoslav Borovec said of the sketch of a blond man.

"He and his colleagues heard something was going on, some noise, so they ran to help her."

There were indications last night that another police officer had also been identified as the man in a second sketch, but further details were not immediately available.

Two women say the man in the second sketch tried to abduct them in Dubrovnik.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25033520-663,00.html

[Grande]

Photo Robot Released of Britt’s Murder Suspect
Channel 7 has published a photo robot of the suspect that two foreigners described as the man that tried to kidnap them in Dubrovnik.
TEXT Published: February 08, 2009 15:56h

http://i44.tinypic.com/9geufb.jpg

Australia’s television Channel 7 and Croatia’s newspaper Vecernji List have a photo robot of the main suspect for the murder of Britt Lapthorne, who three young women, also foreigners visiting Croatia, recognized as the man that tried to kidnap them in Dubrovnik’s Fuego club, writes Vecernji List.

One of the most influential Australian journalists, Ross Coluthart, conducted the investigation for Channel 7, regarding the disappearance and death of Britt Lapthorne with an organized group of people specialized for the kidnapping of young women, who “base” was the Fuego club in Dubrovnik.

The suspect pushed one foreigner into a taxi, whilst he tried to push another into a blue van similar to the one seen in front of the Fuego club on the night that Britt disappeared. Both women managed to wrestle their way to freedom from the man.

“False police officers” behind the kidnapping?

A women, a potential kidnap victim, said that around ten days after the disappearance of Britt Lapthorne, two men came up to her and tried to make friends, but she rejected them. One of them introduced himself as a police officer, showing her his identification, which she described as a Visa card. The Australian television states that various women complained about “false police officers” at that time in Dubrovnik.

Remember, Dubrovnik’s police confirmed that the mentioned television station spent five days recording the documentary and talking to one of the police officers that worked on Britt’s case. However, there is still no new information in the Britt Lapthorne case, even though Britt’s parents do not stop suspecting that murder was in question concerning their daughter.

“Nobody has been suspected yet, and it is known that the autopsy did not show the cause of Britt’s death” repeated Marija Gjenero, the spokesperson of the Dubrovnik-Neretva police department. The police do not have information about kidnappings in the Fuego club.

http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=232200

[Amusedtdth]

I really hope this new information goes somewhere constructive.

[Grande]

Death linked to Britt Lapthorne, says mother os Slovenian found dead in Croatia
February 20, 2009
Article from: Australian Associated Press

THE mother of a Slovenian woman found dead in Croatia believes the case is linked to that of Australian traveller Britt Lapthorne.

And like the Lapthorne case, those close to 35-year-old Irena Mlakar accuse police of failing to properly investigate her death, and suspect police may have had something to do with it.

Irena's body was found in August 2007 on Krk Island, a tourist spot about 570km north of Dubrovnik, where Britt's body was found in October last year, three weeks after she disappeared.

Irena's mother Stasa Mlakar has told the Slovenian newspaper Delo: "It seems that the death of my daughter and the Australian Britt Lapthorne, who died in Croatia last year, are linked".

"There are many similarities because both were found three weeks after disappearing, both were identified via DNA, and the autopsy did not reveal the cause of their death."

Friends, who were on holiday with Irena when she disappeared and began their own hunt for the missing woman, told Delo they believed police were watching them.

Officers wanted to stop them from finding out anything about the disappearance, one unnamed friend told Delo.

A retired criminologist, also unnamed, who joined the search, said police were involved, but did not offer any evidence.

Britt Lapthorne's parents believe their daughter was murdered and have accused Dubrovnik police of frustrating the investigation and tampering with security footage that might hold clues about her death.

Meanwhile, other female travellers have told how they escaped abduction attempts after partying at the same Dubrovnik nightclub from which Britt disappeared.

The women compiled forensic sketches of their alleged attackers, and Dubrovnik police have confirmed they are serving police officers.

But they said the men were "very good quality" officers who did not harass or rob foreign tourists.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25082165-12377,00.html

[Grande]

Croatia Police tell Lapthorne family to stay out
David Murray
February 25, 2009 12:00am

BRITT Lapthorne's family have been banned from conducting their own search for her missing remains.

The backpacker's parents have been trying to arrange scuba divers to search the Dubrovnik bay where her incomplete body was found.

But in an extraordinary response sent through the Australian Federal Police, Croatia's Interior Ministry said a search by foreign divers would be illegal.

Evidence discovered would be inadmissible in court and "can effectively be discarded", the ministry warned.

Despite making no effort to restrict public access to the bay since Britt's body was found, the Interior Ministry also claimed the area was still a "crime scene".

Croatian police had been unable to conduct their own search because it was "too cold".

Britt's body was found floating in the bay weeks after she vanished from a Dubrovnik nightclub on September 18.

Her family suspect police have failed to conduct a thorough search of the area in the months since. Britt's camera, bag and clothes are missing, and questions linger over whether there could be evidence of her body being weighed down.

"All we want to do is find the rest of Britt's body, as any family would," father Dale said.

"But this is not an unexpected response from the Dubrovnik police. It's as though they are scared of what we might find."

The Lapthornes are uncertain whether they will be able to afford the dive anyway, with one Australian group estimating a private search would cost up to $100,000.

Croatian police last week said they would send their own divers into the bay, after learning that Britt's family was putting together a search party.

The AFP sent questions to Croatia's Interior Ministry on behalf of the family about the possibility of a private search. A summary of Croatia's response was sent to the family.

"The Croatian authorities have experienced divers and all the equipment required to conduct the search," it said.

"The area still remains a crime scene. If divers other than police divers locate any evidence, this is not admissible in a Croatian court as defined by Croatian law.

"Dubrovnik is experiencing extraordinary cold weather and therefore the search/dive has not yet been undertaken. As soon as the weather clears (it) will be conducted.

"There is legislation which prevents foreigners from undertaking formal investigations inside Croatian jurisdiction."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25102574-661,00.html

[Grande]

Croat cops resemble Britt identikits
By David Murray
February 14, 2009 12:00am

http://i39.tinypic.com/5v8zdy.jpg

THESE are the first photographs of two Dubrovnik police officers tenuously linked to alleged attempts to abduct foreign backpackers.

In an effort to help solve the case of Australian Britt Lapthorne, several women last week prepared two sketches of men they allege tried to abduct them.

Croatian police announced almost immediately they had identified the two as local police officers, but said they were wrongly accused during normal duties.

Local media have since named the men as Dragan Palameta and Ivica Rudinovic, both married fathers working in the drug squad.

The Sunday Telegraph tracked the officers down to their homes in villages on the outskirts of Dubrovnik and supplied photographs of the pair to the alleged victims.

One woman, an Australian who wants to be identified only as Amber, says men in a blue van tried to snatch her from Dubrovnik's streets just five days before Britt Lapthorne went missing.

She recognised one of the men among a group of plain-clothes police who approached her shortly after the incident.

When shown photographs of Mr Palameta, Amber said on Friday he looked "remarkably similar'' to the blond-haired man she had made a sketch of.

Police last week sought to discredit Amber by saying that she had previously been unable to give Interpol a detailed description ofher attacker.

On Friday she stood firmly by her account that one of the men from the van was among the group of police who had approached her.

She said: "I saw his face ... I'm not going to make something up in a case that's so serious.

"Why would I make up a story when someone is dead?''

Neighbours confirmed Mr Palameta was the man in The Sunday Telegraph's photographs, but saidthey were certain he had done nothing wrong.

"I have known him all my life,'' one neighbour said. ``I could not ignore all of this so I asked him about it when I saw him.

"He told me he could not speak because he is under investigation.

"But this story is out of itsmind ... there is an organised criminal group attacking women in Dubrovnik?

It is insane.''Local shopkeeper Jele Benic agreed: ``I have known him since he was born. There is no chance that this is true.''

When pictures of the other policeman, plainclothes officer Ivica Rudinovic, were sent to an American woman, Jennifer Blanchard, who prepared the second sketch, she said that he had nothing to do with her incident.

After police announced they had identified the two men in the sketches they said both were involved in Amber's incident.

But Amber had sketched only one of the men, with Ms Blanchard completing a sketch separately.

Police declined to allow the two officers to be interviewed.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25055501-5006003,00.html

[CSAFD]

Britt Lapthorne search banned
Feb. 24, 2009

BRITT Lapthorne's family have been banned from conducting their own search for her missing remains.

The backpacker's parents have been trying to arrange scuba divers to search the Dubrovnik bay where her incomplete body was found.

But in an extraordinary response sent through the Australian Federal Police, Croatia's Interior Ministry said a search by foreign divers would be illegal.

Evidence discovered would be inadmissible in court and "can effectively be discarded", the ministry warned.

Despite making no effort to restrict public access to the bay since Britt's body was found, the Interior Ministry also claimed the area was still a "crime scene".

Croatian police had been unable to conduct their own search because it was "too cold".

Britt's body was found floating in the bay weeks after she vanished from a Dubrovnik nightclub on September 18.


Her family suspect police have failed to conduct a thorough search of the area in the months since. Britt's camera, bag and clothes are missing, and questions linger over whether there could be evidence of her body being weighed down.

"All we want to do is find the rest of Britt's body, as any family would," father Dale said.

"But this is not an unexpected response from the Dubrovnik police. It's as though they are scared of what we might find."

The Lapthornes are uncertain whether they will be able to afford the dive anyway, with one Australian group estimating a private search would cost up to $100,000.

Croatian police last week said they would send their own divers into the bay, after learning that Britt's family was putting together a search party.

The AFP sent questions to Croatia's Interior Ministry on behalf of the family about the possibility of a private search. A summary of Croatia's response was sent to the family.

"The Croatian authorities have experienced divers and all the equipment required to conduct the search," it said.

"The area still remains a crime scene. If divers other than police divers locate any evidence, this is not admissible in a Croatian court as defined by Croatian law.

"Dubrovnik is experiencing extraordinary cold weather and therefore the search/dive has not yet been undertaken. As soon as the weather clears (it) will be conducted.

"There is legislation which prevents foreigners from undertaking formal investigations inside Croatian jurisdiction."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,25103663-1243,00.html?from=public_rss

[Pandabear]

My thoughts and prayers are with Britt's family. I can't imagine what they have gone through and continue to go through in their search for answers. The Croatian police seem to just want this to go away. JMO

[packy]

Too bad the cameras didn't work that one night she disappeared. It does seem like the cases are connected and hope the police stay on this.

My condolences to Britt's family.

[CSAFD]

Police divers searching Dubrovnik waters for Britt Lapthorne clues
Feb. 26, 2009

POLICE divers have begun searching the area where Australian tourist Brit Lapthorne's body was found.

The search comes five months after Lapthorne vanished from a Dubrovnik night club and died under mysterious circumstances.

Police plan to use lights to aid their search and to record their actions on video.

The search comes after Brit's parents revealed they were planning their own search of the area.

The Herald Sun revealed this week that police had banned the family from conducting their own search, warning that any evidence found privately would be inadmissable in court.

Brit's body was incomplete when pulled from the water and her family have been hoping to recover her entire remains.

Her camera, bag and clothes also remain missing.

There are also questions over whether Brit's body may have been weighed down and a search could uncover evidence still on the ocean floor.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25112956-661,00.html?from=public_rss

[Amusedtdth]

Praying that this search will yield some information.

[CSAFD]

Divers search bay where Britt Lapthorne's body was found
Feb. 27, 2009

Police divers have spent a second day searching the bay in Croatia where the body of Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne was found.

Five months after Ms Lapthorne went missing, police divers have been sent to look for her belongings and the rest of her remains.

Dubrovnik police spokeswoman Maria Genero told reporters divers had spent two days scouring the waters of Boninovo Bay for her camera, her bag and her clothes.

The search had yet to uncover anything, but she said they intend to spend a third day looking.

Ms Lapthorne disappeared last September, after spending the night at a club in the Croatian coastal town of Dubrovnik.

Her body was found three weeks later.

Earlier this week, Ms Lapthorne's parents said they were denied the right to conduct their own search.

The Lapthornes were told in November they may never know exactly how their daughter died, after the results of an autopsy performed by the Victorian Coroner were inconclusive.

Britt's father, Dale Lapthorne, says Coroner Jennifer Coate told him that his daughter's injuries did not indicate that she had died accidentally.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/28/2503875.htm

[sarahhod]

BRITT LAPTHORNE CASE

Britt Caught on Tape in Company of Two Young Men

The footage shows Britt and two young men paying for drinks and food in a shop on the day of her disappearance.

http://www.javno.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2009/m03/y197134453455909.jpg

Published: March 06, 2009

Britt Lapthorne was captured on video nine hours before she died in the company of two young men in the Tommy shopping centre in Dubrovnik, the Jutarnji list daily reported.
The subsequent viewing of cameras from the shopping centre established that the 21-year-old Australian went to Tommy on September 17, 2008 at around 18:35 hours.
The footage shows Britt, wearing a dark-blue t-shirt and shorts, paying for drinks and food on register number 3. She was in the company of two young men, one in Bermuda shorts and a blue t-shirt who was with Britt the whole time, after which the second young man joined them, wearing grey Bermuda shorts and a blue and white striped shirt.
The three left Tommy together, engaged in a conversation. After that, Britt was last seen in Dubrovnik’s “Fuego” night club at around 3:30 am. Unofficial sources reveal that the tape was discovered after police started a more detained reconstruction of Britt’s movements, which included a detailed viewing of surveillance tapes of all facilities next to her apartment and the location where people say is the last place they saw her.
Also, police divers again began searching the sea at the location where Britt’s body had been found in early October. But a gale-force southerly wind disrupted any further investigation and the divers, who did not find any new evidence up to that point, were forced to give up from further actions.


http://www.javno.com/en-croatia/britt-caught-on-tape-in-company-of-two-young-men_240387
}

[CSAFD]

i think Croatia botched the whole thing, now they're try'n to cover their a$$es, cuz its allready an international matter involving them and the Australians, hopefully someone someday will come forward that will help the Lapthornes have closer. and finoud out who murdered Britt.

[CSAFD]

Bob Spinks On The Britt Lapthorne Case
Mar. 20, 2009

The owner of the Croatian hostel where Melbourne backpacker Britt Lapthorne had been staying before she disappeared allegedly tried to post the 21-year-old’s passport to Australia, her father says.

Meanwhile in Britain, Essex MP Bob Spinks has tabled a Parliamentary question for the UK Home Office:”If he will set out the number of British citizens who have been i) reported as missing in Croatia and ii) have not yet been found, in each of the last three years and if he will make a statement.”

Britt Lapthorne was last seen in a nightclub in the Croatian coastal resort of Dubrovnik on September 17., says today’s coverage in the Melbourne newspaper The Age.

Dale Lapthorne, is in Dubrovnik to try to find his daughter and told Australia’s ABC Radio of an anonymous telephone call to the Berkley Hotel where he is staying on Saturday night.

The call was in Croatian, which was translated by an Australian consular official.

The male caller said a woman he recognised as the owner of the hostel where Britt had been staying was at a Dubrovnik post office trying to post a passport to Australia on the day Ms Lapthorne went missing.

The caller said she left with the passport when she was told she could not send it through the mail.

Ivica Perkovic, the son of the hostel owner, was questioned at a Dubrovnik police station late last week after police discovered Britt had telephoned him on the night she was last seen.

He was later released, and denies knowing anything about Britt’s disappearance.

Dale Lapthorne told reporters the anonymous caller contacted the hotel where he, son Darren and Britt’s boyfriend Simon Imberger are staying.

Mr Lapthorne said the family was holding onto a glimmer of hope that Britt was alive because her body had not been found.

The story still appears to be being ignored by the UK media. I wonder how the same Red Tops would react if the positions were reversed and The Oz media was ignoring a story of a British female backpacker missing on a Pacific Island?

The mystery remains a lead story in all of Australia’s news bulletins and Page One in all newspapers.
The Sydney Herald tells of Britt’s father’s anger over the seemly softly, softly, methods of an Australian police aide:

http://www.anorak.co.uk/twitterings/191751.html

[sarahhod]

i think Croatia botched the whole thing, now they're try'n to cover their a$$es, cuz its allready an international matter involving them and the Australians, hopefully someone someday will come forward that will help the Lapthornes have closer. and finoud out who murdered Britt.

ITA.

I also hope the Lapthorne's will get the answers soon they so deserve.

[sarahhod]

Australians Can`t Determine Cause Of Britt`s Death
Australian pathologists confirmed that the exact cause and time of Britt Lapthorne`s death cannot be determined.

http://www.javno.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2009/m03/y198084435775564.jpg

Published: March 17, 2009 12:26h


The Dubrovnik County State Attorney`s Office has received the Britt Lapthorne autopsy findings from Australia, the Slobodna Dalmacija daily writes. This report confirms the results of Croatian pathologists, i.e. states that the exact cause and time of Britt Lapthorne`s death cannot be determined.
The autopsy results arrived from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Southbank, while it was performed after the initiative of the Lapthorne family.
The autopsy reports counts all the damages to the body, which could have occurred by the body being knocked against the coast or the rocks, with the impact of the sea or sea organisms. Furthermore, all possible ways of Britt`s death were counted.
According to unofficial information of the Slobodna Dalmacija daily, the Australian autopsy report is 45 pages long, while the Croatian report was written on a single page. The RTG and CT scans were conducted, and the opinion of anthropologists, forensic dentists, skull experts were sought. All possible histological and toxicology tests were performed.
According to the Slobodna Dalmacija daily, the Britt Lapthorne case can be linked with the death of another Australian, Andrew John Modistach, who went missing at Peljesac in 2005. He took the ferry in the island of Korcula for Orebic island on Peljesac, wanting to conquer the 961-metre Sveti Ilija mountain top.
After he went missing, suspicion arose that he was killed, while his father arrived in Croatia. A year and a half after the disappearance of two local hunters, a rucksack was found with the Australian flag and Andrew John Modistach`s remains among the rocks under Sveti Ilija.



http://www.javno.com/en-croatia/australians-cant-determine-cause-of-britts-death_243485

[sarahhod]

18. 03. 09. - 10:00

Britt Lapthorne’s death a mystery even for Australian pathologists

Croatian Times

Australian pathologists have said it is impossible to determine the time and cause of Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne’s death in Croatia.

Lapthorne went missing on the night of 16/17 September 2008 after having been last seen at the Fuego night club in Dubrovnik. Her body was found by a fisherman in the sea near Dubrovnik almost a month later.

Croatian pathologists came to the same conclusion, according to the daily "Slobodna Dalmacija."

The Australian autopsy was performed at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Southbank in Victoria at the request of Britt Lapthorne’s parents, who had doubts about the results of the first autopsy done by Croatian pathologists.

One of the reasons they believed the Croatian autopsy had been superficial was that its results were written on only one sheet of paper. The Australian results, on the other hand, cover 45 sheets of paper.



http://www.croatiantimes.com/index.php?id=3120

[sarahhod]

CSI Dubrovnik: the Britt Lapthorne mystery

By Sasha Uzunov (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/author.asp?id=5654) - posted Wednesday, 4 March 2009 [/URL]



The American forensic crime show franchise, CSI: Crime Scene Investigations, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York, has sparked enormous public interest in the use of science to solve mysterious deaths or murders. Perhaps with the media feeding frenzy associated with the tragic Britt Lapthorne case, we could see a Dubrovnik CSI hitting our TV screens.
In television the whodunit is solved within 60 minutes but in real life, answers may never be found.
We know that the 21-year-old Melbourne backpacker was last seen leaving a night club in the Croatian seaside resort town of Dubrovnik on September 18, 2008 and in October of the same year her decomposed body was found in Dubrovnik waters. Her parents maintain she was murdered.
http://view.atdmt.com/NOA/view/128925222/direct;wi.300;hi.250/01/ (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/display.asp?page=subscribe)
Many theories about how Lapthorne died or was killed have been offered. The latest comes from former New Zealand law graduate turned award winning television investigative reporter, Ross “Rosco” Coulthart of the Seven network.
Rosco Coulthart was able to track down other female tourists who had alleged they were approached by men posing as Croatian police officers and who tried to abduct them. A photo sketch of the alleged assailants revealed they were serving Croat police officers. But local officials denied any police involvement.
Coulthart has an excellent track record in uncovering big stories and is one of the Australian media’s genuine nice guys.
However, a highly respected former Australian multicultural SBS TV star reporter, now living in Croatia, believes that the international media needs to tone down its hysterical coverage of the Britt Lapthorne and focus on the facts.
Mr Vladimir Lusic, Croat born Australian who hosted the hugely successful SBS TV current affairs program Vox Populi, said: “The Lapthorn case investigation is still open and, as far as I know, Croatian and Australian police experts are co-operating. What the outcome will be I refuse to predict since I am still a proud former Australian award winning investigative journalist.
“Everyone in Dubrovnik and the rest of Croatia sympathise with the young girl’s family, relatives and friends. In line with that, whatever the Lapthorn family thinks and says is completely understandable - they tragically lost their beloved daughter.
“However, all extensive ‘investigative’ media reports about the case and Dubrovnik which do not include all the facts are incomplete and misleading. Not telling the whole truth is equal to telling a lie,” he said.
Mr Lusic was awarded 1989 Golden Gavel Award for Excellence in Legal Reporting.
Mr Peter Hanrahan, SBS TV’s founding current affairs and news director, on December 13, 1990 told Australia’s prominent ethnic affairs expert, reporter John Masanauskas that Lusic was “a very competent journalist and always fair”.
Lusic now works for the Croatian State Broadcaster HRT (Hrvatska Radio Televisija) and heads its International Section.
Lusic has ruled out the possibility that Albanian organised crime elements tried to kidnap the Australian backpacker to use her in a brothel.
“What Albanian mafia? There are no ‘mafia’ organisations of any kind in Dubrovnik. It’s one of the world’s most peaceful tourist destinations,” he said.
“Movie stars, politicians, princesses and sheiks walk the streets without paparazzi and any other harassment. Children of all ages play in the parks without any supervision. Hundreds of thousands of tourists, including young people, pass through Dubrovnik every year. It is true that young tourists have more ‘fun’.
“They drink, get drunk and have sex on the beaches - even on the rocks high above the sea. Over the past century there were incidents when people fell or jumped from the rocks.
“However, in comparison with other places in Croatia and the world, such incidents were extremely rare. More importantly, not one kidnapping has ever been recorded in the Dubrovnik region - except, of course, during the 1991-1992 war when the Serbian led aggression on Croatia brought looting, raping, murder, destruction of property etc.”
According to testimony given to the United States Senate by the FBI in 2003, Balkan organised crime groups, particularly those composed of ethnic Albanians, have expanded rapidly over the last decade to Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and the Scandinavian countries, and are beginning to gain a foothold in the United States.
In the last year or two, European nations have recognised that Balkan organised crime is one of the greatest criminal threats that they face. European police organisations now estimate that Balkan organised crime groups control upwards of 70 per cent of the heroin market in some of the larger European nations, and are rapidly taking over human smuggling, prostitution and car theft rings across Europe.
This writer has been to Croatia three times, 1983, 2002 and 2005 and walked the streets at night and felt very safe.
In 2005 in Dubrovnik I saw hundreds of Aussie, Kiwi, Pommie, Yank, Canuck (Canadian) backpackers enjoying themselves. I even remember recognising a heavily intoxicated and aggressive Australian TV camera operator and a companion on holiday giving the locals at Dubrovnik airport disdainful looks in jest. It was all light hearted fun.
For the sake of justice and for the peace of mind of the Lapthorne family, hopefully, closure can be found.


[URL]http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8612

[CSAFD]

Britt's case still open-police
Apr. 2, 2009

Croatian police say they will analyse camera footage taken outside the Dubrovnik nightclub where Melbourne woman Britt Lapthorne was last seen alive, and investigate claims of attempted abductions.

They have dismissed claims a gang of local men, purporting to be police was preying on travellers at the bar where the 21-year-old was last seen on September 18 last year.

Three young women have told how local men tried to abduct them at or near Club Fuego in Dubrovnik, claiming to be police officers.

Dubrovnik police reject the claim but say there may be new information in footage aired on Network Seven's Sunday Night program to help them solve the murder mystery.

They say the death of Britt Lapthorne is still an open case and they will analyse the material.

It contains allegations that Dubrovnik police removed frames of security footage that might hold clues to her death.

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/World/2009/02/10/Britts_case_still_open-police_301600.html

[CSAFD]

Lapthorne's parents reveal autopsy finds
Apr. 19, 2009

Backpacker Britt Lapthorne's body was immersed in water from the time she went missing in Croatia and her body was weighed down, a Victorian autopsy has found.

While the results of the autopsy have not been officially released, Ms Lapthorne's parents have revealed details to the Herald Sun newspaper.

Ms Lapthorne, 21, of Melbourne, went missing from a nightclub in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik on September 18 last year. Her badly decomposed body was found in a nearby bay on October 6.

According to the newspaper, a report completed by the Victorian coroner late last year found Ms Lapthorne had been in the sea for the entire time she was missing and that there were marks on her remains from contact with marine life that dwell on the sea floor.

A pathologist told Ms Lapthorne's family her body should have surfaced within three days, but it was not until 18 days after she disappeared that her remains were discovered, the newspaper said.

Her father Dale Lapthorne said there was a 'strong' chance his daughter's body was weighed down and only surfaced once it had decomposed.

But he said the coroner had not drawn any conclusions from the findings.

'Her body most likely floated only hours before she was discovered,' Mr Lapthorne said, after months considering the report.

'The high traffic in the area and the location - it should have been found earlier if it was floating.'

It was amazing she was found' Mr Lapthorne said, because when she was found there was little tissue to enable the body to float.'

Mr Lapthorne said he believed his daughter met with foul play and that only people who knew the area well and knew how to hide or dispose of a body could have committed the crime.

The Croatian police investigation remains open.

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/National/2009/04/20/Lapthornes_parents_reveal_autopsy_finds_323616.htm l

[CSAFD]

Dead backpacker Britt Lapthorne's body 'weighed down' in water
Apr. 19, 2009

THE family of dead backpacker Britt Lapthorne believes her body was dumped in the sea and weighed down just hours after she disappeared from a Croatian nightclub.

The Melbourne student's remains were found in the water off the coast of Dubrovnik 18 days after she went missing in September last year.

She was last seen partying at a nightclub with fellow backpackers.

A Victorian coroner's report, carried out late last year, has been kept a close secret.

But Britt's father Dale has revealed the coroner found his daughter was in the water not long after she was last seen on September 18.

"The only thing that I will release from the coroner's report is that her body was in the water the whole time,'' Mr Lapthorne said.

Although the coroner didn't say it, Mr Lapthorne was confident her body had been weighted before being dumped in the water.

"There is no other explanation for her body not coming to the surface earlier,'' he said.

"It's the reason for the rapid decomposition of her body, and the fact it was only found 18 days later in a high visibility area, virtually out the front of a hotel and only a kilometre from the club.''

The coroner confirmed Britt's body should have surfaced within two or three days.

Mr Lapthorne and his wife Elke are determined to carry out an underwater search to find further skeletal remains and their daughter's personal belongings.

"We only brought 20kg of Britt back with us and she was 50kg in life. There are still some parts of her that are out there that have never been discovered.

"It is very important to have the rest of her, it's really important for us to continue pursuing this case. We believe it's murder and foul play and we couldn't believe someone could get away with this so easy.''

He believed those remains would be found very close to the nightclub.

But the Croatian police have refused them permission to do that, saying it is against local law.

While Britt's parents are desperate to get back to the country where their daughter was last alive, they won't go until they can carry out the underwater search.

"I don't want to plan one and have the Croatian police stop us, that would be very difficult financially and difficult for us psychologically.''

The search can go ahead once the police class the case as "non-criminal''.

Mr Lapthorne believed the police were just trying to protect their tourism industry.


http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25357807-5005962,00.html?from=public_rss

[Nut44x4]

Lapthorne's parents mark anniversary in Croatia
Posted 2 hours 28 minutes ago

The parents of Australian backpacker Britt Lapthorne are in Croatia to mark the first anniversary of their daughter's disappearance.

The 21-year-old Victorian went missing from a Dubrovnik nightclub a year ago today, and her body was found in the sea off the coastal town three weeks later.

Parents Dale and Elke Lapthorne will visit the nightclub where their daughter was last seen.

Ms Lapthorne says they are relieved and grateful the investigation into her death remains open in Croatia.

"The thing is, nothing's going to bring our daughter back to us. But on the other hand we will try to fight for our daughter in any possible way that we can," she said.

"We're not going to let these people get away with what they did to our daughter, or to us.

"They've not only destroyed our daughter's life, they've basically damaged our lives as well."

Mr Lapthorne says the trip will help the family put some of the pieces of the puzzle together.

"The more information we have, the more effective we can be, because we're not going to let it go. We can't let it go."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/18/2689455.htm?section=justin

[Nut44x4]

Lapthornes welcome new laws for missing
September 18, 2009

THE family of dead Victorian backpacker Britt Lapthorne have welcomed proposed new laws which would allow relatives to be alerted quickly when a loved one goes missing overseas.
Family First senator Steve Fielding introduced the draft laws to federal parliament yesterday, the eve of the first anniversary of Britt Lapthorne's disappearance from the Croatian seaside town of Dubrovnik.

The 21-year-old student vanished from a popular Dubrovnik nightclub in the early hours of September 18, 2008, while out partying with friends. Her body was found in a nearby bay 18 days later by a local fisherman.

While Australian officials were aware early on about Britt's disappearance, they did not tell her parents, Dale and Elke Lapthorne, for six days after she was last seen.

They argued privacy laws had prevented them contacting the Lapthornes.

Fielding hopes his proposed legislation will unravel the red tape surrounding the Privacy Act and allow families to be informed immediately when a relative goes missing overseas and foul play is suspected.

Britt Lapthorne's parents, Dale and Elke, who are in Dubrovnik to mark the one-year anniversary of her disappearance, described the legislation as "awesome".

"No parent or no family should be left wondering what is going on," Mr Lapthorne said.

"Right at the start it was recognised (by Australian government officials) that Britt's case was serious, there was a serious issue, and this was portrayed by the Australian ambassador's office to the Croatian police.

"It wasn't a case of a missing person (initially). It was a set of circumstances that were quite concerning and it's only in those instances we are talking about notifying the next of kin immediately."

Mr and Mrs Lapthorne are planning to pay an emotional private tribute to their daughter today on the cliff-top overlooking the tranquil bay where her body was found.

They have also made a late night visit to the Latino Club Fuego, where Britt was last seen in an attempt to get an idea of what it might have been like on the night she disappeared.

The couple have been frustrated by the lack of progress Croatian police have made in investigating Britt's death and hold little confidence they will ever uncover the truth about what happened.

But they believe their return to Croatia has been worthwhile and say they feel closer to their daughter by being in Dubrovnik.

"We had no intention of coming back but, as the anniversary drew closer, we thought, `well how can we stay away'," Mrs Lapthorne said.

"We have again walked the streets where Britt walked this time last year, and I can see why she loved it here.

"I see Britt everywhere in the young female backpackers around here. Britt was typical of each and every one of them and it's just devastating.

"This should not have happened to Britt, or to anyone else at all."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26090370-29277,00.html